Transformers Prime Season 3 Episode 1: Rebirth
by LuisJM
Summary: As the Autobots recover from the aftermath of the attack and the loss of their leader, Jack, Raf, Miko, and June were captured by MECH where their new leader have stronger ambitions in creating the perfect robotic soldier. Will the Autobots manage to rescue their human friends before it's too late? Post Darkest Hour. Jack and Arcee Pairing. (Editing by FictionFan1024)
1. Director

**Welcome back ladies and gentlemen! Time for another new story from yours truly, LuisJM. This time I'm taking this story to a whole new approach. See, being that I watched Transformers since I was young I really like Transformers Prime. The animation and the story are pretty good and the characters are top notch. When I saw what happened at the end of Season 2, I was completely shocked by it. But you gotta hand it to them, ending that season with a cliffhanger is a sure bet that people will be talking about until the third season comes around. But I got a horrible feeling that the third season would involve the Autobots separate and driving from one state to another just to survive from the cons and this Predaking creature until they all regroup in the last few episodes. I'm sure there would be some new characters here and there to help them out, but seriously, this season's going to last sixteen episodes? Why they have to cut the season in half? You can't put sixteen episodes to a season that epic. That's insane! Well, until the spring of 2013, many authors have written stories of what happened after Darkest Hour. So looking into them, I've decided to do not only my own story, but also an entire season ark of my own. I know, a little extreme being that the third season would premier in the coming months. But why wait for what happens in the third season when you can make your own. And I know a good way to start it off. Here's a quick summery.**

**As the Autobots recover from the aftermath of the attack and the loss of their leader, Jack, Raf, Miko, and June were captured by MECH where their new leader have stronger ambitions in creating the perfect robotic soldier. Will the Autobots manage to rescue their human friends before it's too late?**

**Chapter Notes**

**Just a couple of things I have to put out of the way before I start this story/episode. In this first chapter, I've decided on adding a few cameos from other media. First one is the next leader of MECH. I've decided to use the Director from the Red vs. Blue series. I always like the Director's character; somewhat of a bad guy in the series but is always cool and collective when it comes to how he talks. The second person I want to put into the story is Commander Rourke from the video game Geist. Now I played the game for the Gamecube and I always liked how he is a right hand man, yet he is in command of an army and people are scared of him. Very intimidating as I say. I wanted to add someone like him in this story because I need someone that could be a matching enemy for the Autobots to take on and not someone like Silas who does his business backstage. And for the last people I wanted to add is Professor Sumdac and Sari Sumdac from Transformers Animated. I always like The Sumdacs being that they are the unique characters on Animated. I even like Sari, especially in her teenage form. She's always a great character and has chemistry with the Autobots. I was hoping she would have the same chemistry with Team Prime, always fun loving but at times a badass girl. Now under future chapters, I don't own any of these characters, cause if I did I would be sued for life! Just to give you guys the heads up before the main disclaimer. Speaking of which…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

**Now onto the story!**

* * *

Transformers Prime Season 3  
Episode 1: Rebirth

Chapter 1: Director

It was a few hours after the Decepticons had established their residence on Earth. The Autobots were scattered across the country, and Optimus had remained behind to prevent Megatron and his cronies from finding their locations. With seconds remaining before the base was completely destroyed, his last valiant action sealed his fate: Optimus Prime destroyed the ground bridge, removing all traces of his comrades' destinations.

Throughout the chaos, another evil was at work outside this war. In an abandoned airfield in the forests of Montana, a search and rescue squad had been dispatched. This unit worked for none other than MECH, an underground terrorist group dedicated to world domination through the cold, merciless exploitation of high technology.

An attack on the base was first reported over a week ago, and there had been no communications since that time. What the rescue squad uncovered was truly shocking. The control bunker was a shambles. Terminals were smashed, debris was everywhere, equipment fried, and bodies of doctors and soldiers were burnt and killed. It was horrific. Just as they thought all hope was lost…

MECH Soldier 1: "Hey! We found a survivor! Over here!"

A group of soldiers heard their comrade's shout and rushed in. When they went behind a toppled slab, they saw one of their own, hysterical and in shock. His uniform was charred, and his left arm had suffered burns over 70 percent. He had a deep gash on his right shoulder and a compound fracture on his right ankle. He had suffered a concussion but was fully aware of where he was. It was a miracle that someone could have endured such an attack and survived. They put him on a stretcher and carried him to a nearby chopper, which brought him to one of MECH's bases of operations for immediate medical attention.

* * *

_To the Board of Directors of MECH.,_

_Allow me to be the first to sympathize with you on the incident that transpired a week ago. And for those of you that were unaware of what happened, let me make it brief. Last week, there was a mysterious attack on one of our research facilities in Montana. This facility was being used for Project Chimera, operated by one of our own generals, Colonel Leland "Silas" Bishop. Though not much is known about this attack, we suspect that it was an inside job, and that it happened without warning._

_A search and rescue unit was dispatched to look for survivors. We found one soldier still alive, but there was no sign of Silas. The soldier is being treated as we speak. Once he's sufficiently recovered, he will talk to us about the incident and perhaps provide insights on what happened to the general in charge of the operation. Though, I fear that Silas might have had something to do with this attack._

_Sincerely,_

_The Head of MECH's Science Division,  
The Director_

* * *

A few days later at another MECH research facility, which had once been an old penitentiary, soldiers were on constant guard after word that the Decepticons had conquered Jasper. This facility is an enormous compound, with five floors of cells and hallways, each large enough to fit a robot. Inside, the soldier rescued from the attacked base had recovered well enough – by MECH's standards – to be debriefed. Bandages covered his head, right shoulder and left arm. Surgical pins held his right ankle bones together, and a cast went straight up his leg, making walking with crutches slow and painful. Hobbling down the hallway, two guards escorted him to a room where he was to be interviewed.

Approaching the main doors, they automatically opened and the three entered. Once in, the wounded soldier went to the middle of the room while the guards remained behind. Once seated, multiple monitors turned on in front of him. On one huge screen was a logo of the planet Earth with a gear border with the word, _'MECH'_ at the bottom. Alongside the screen were monitors, five on the left and five on the right, each showing a blank ID avatar with a _'Sound Only'_ text underneath. It was obvious that these monitors were showing the Board of Directors of MECH. The first one started to talk to the soldier.

MECH Board Member 1: _"State your name, soldier."_

The wounded soldier nervously told the board his name.

MECH Soldier 2: "Private Jenkins, sir."

MECH Board Member 1: _"And what was your position Private Jenkins?"_

Private Jenkins: "I was assigned to be part of Silas's Project Chimera."

MECH Board Member 1: _"Please, Jenkins, tell us your experience with the project and what happened during your time there."_

There was a brief silence after the board member asked the question. Jenkins was unsure how to answer. Composing his thoughts, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

Private Jenkins: "Well for starters, Project Chimera was working well. Ever since the discovery of these alien robots, Silas had been doing research on how these beings worked from their technology, their biology, to how they transform. After gathering the information needed and salvaging mechanical parts including a T-Cog, which gives the beings the ability to scan vehicles and transform, we managed to create the ultimate robotic soldier in Project Chimera. We were even able to make a copy of Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, to frame him and his comrades."

It was then that the main screen opened up the files of Project Chimera from video clips of previous missions, to schematics of the robot's design. The second board member looked into this and responded to the soldier's information.

MECH Board Member 2: _"Hmm… Yes of course. The data from Silas's files are truly evident that there was some excellent progress on his creation. So what happened? We heard that there was a small mishap when the project was at full completion. Can you tell us about that?"_

Jenkins sighed deeply as he tried to piece together what transpired at the plant.

Private Jenkins: "Well, we managed to complete the project and were ready to test it out. The only problem was how to operate it. With the mechanics all done, it was impossible to put a pilot within the Mech since we had to assemble the parts necessary for the transformation. So Silas came up with an idea, by operating the robot remotely. He called it the "Teleprescence Interface" and it was used to operate the robot by long distance. Tests proved that a remote link between the driver and the machine were successful in both vehicular and robot mode and there was no lag or malfunctioning issues. It was flawless. But then, there was a snag."

MECH Board Member 1: _"A snag you say?"_

Private Jenkins: "Yes. See, in order for the Teleprescence Interface to work, the driver operating it had to be concentrating on the controls at all times. Though he was present at the time he fought Optimus, Silas became distracted when Fowler showed up."

Another window popped up showing Agent Fowler's bio while the third board member spoke up.

MECH Board Member 3: _"Agent Fowler. Yes, the former Army Ranger and special agent for the United States government. We have reason to believe that he is also a liaison for these Autobots, as he calls them. Though I believe it is going to be former liaison of the Autobots. With word of the invasion in Jasper, I'm pretty sure that he's going to be the one to blame. Please, continue."_

Private Jenkins: "Thank you. Anyway, Fowler managed to distract Silas long enough for Optimus to strike back. The general tried his best to get back in control, but it was too late. Optimus managed to defeat our creation and in the process, destroyed the silo's roof letting it collapse with Silas in the middle."

There was a bit of silence as within the room when the data for Silas's bio with an imprint that stated, _'MIA'_ on it. The first board member responded to the private's words.

MECH Board Member 1: _"So, a small distraction from Fowler cost us the robotic soldier. Interesting… and what about General Silas? All we know so far is that he'd been missing in action since the incident."_

The private grew quiet about this and didn't know what to say.

Private Jenkins: "Yes… about that… We were going to tell you about that after we were done saving his life."

MECH Board Member 1: _"So he's alive then."_

Private Jenkins: "Not…entirely true sir. It's a little more complicated than that."

MECH Board Member 1: _"Please, enlighten us…"_

Jenkins rubbed his head and started to explain what happened, step by step.

Private Jenkins: "Well, we managed to dig up what was left of Project Chimera and pulled Silas out of the wreckage. His condition however was worse than we thought. The accident caused severe damage to his internal organs, his legs were broken, and nearly all his bones were cracked. No surgery or modern medicine could save him. So we had to take some extreme measures just to get him into combat shape. With the knowledge we had from these robots…and the body of the Decepticon known as Breakdown…we managed to integrate his nervous system into the circuitry and input his brain waves into the main computer. After placing ten million volts of lightning and inputting energon into the Decepticon body, we brought Silas back to life. The results were truly amazing."

There was more of an awkward silence until the fourth board member spoke up.

MECH Board Member 4: _"So let us get this straight. You're telling us that you used a dead bot's body to save Silas's life?"_

Private Jenkins: "You could say that. It was rough, but it was the only way to bring him back from near death. We were going to contact you all after the procedure. That was until the attack happened."

There was a harsh silence within the room as the first board member spoke up.

MECH Board Member 1: _"What happened at the facility? Who attacked it?"_

The private was quiet for a while and didn't know what to say. He knew who attacked the facility and killed the soldiers from within; he just didn't know how the board of directors would respond. After giving this a little more thought, he took a deep breath and told them who did that.

Private Jenkins: "It was Silas. Silas was the one who attacked the facility."

There was a bit of shock throughout the speakers as the board members argued about this turn of events. But the first board member kept his cool and silenced the others.

MECH Board Member 1: "Enough! There will be order in this meeting! Now Jenkins, please explain to me why Silas decided to attack you and your men after you rescued him from a near death experience."

Jenkins thought about what he was going to say and told them what happened after they brought Silas back from the dead.

Private Jenkins: "It's a little hard to explain. When we were done with the operation, he thanked us for our hard work and services. But then he learned to activate his blaster and fired at everyone and everything he saw fit. There was so much destruction as all the soldiers were dying around me. I didn't know how I managed to survive that long. But here's the thing that really creeped me out, sirs. Before he attacked us, Silas said that he wanted to be in the company of Titans."

All who listened to Jenkins' words were intrigued by them. Then the board members talked to each other.

MECH Board Member 2: _"So, what do you think?"_

MECH Board Member 1: _"My guess is that Silas has betrayed MECH, believing that he is the most dominant individual with his new body. And if what Silas said is true, then that means he decided to swear alliance to the Decepticons."_

MECH Board Member 3: _"You mean one of the enemies MECH has issues with? I can imagine that his alliance with them could be problematic for us."_

MECH Board Member 1: _"Well, he had no choice in the matter. He faced the Autobots many times before and there were times he used two of them to understand their alien biology. He wouldn't join their ranks even if he wished. So the Decepticons were his only option as they both share the same enemy. Too bad we don't know the whereabouts of our general, or if he is alive. All we know is that he got his vision, and paid a hefty price for it."_

The private listened to the board's discussions and lowered his head in shame.

Private Jenkins: "This is all our fault! We didn't expect Silas to kill us when all we were doing was trying to save his life. We should've let him die with honor than put him in that robotic body. We're so stupid!"

The board listened to his lament and couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. The first board member then spoke up and told him not to worry.

MECH Board Member 1: _"Don't beat yourself up, Jenkins. We know it wasn't your fault to begin with. You were trying to save the general from death and did all you could to save his life. We cannot blame you. But the one person we could blame is Silas himself. You managed to save his life by putting him in the body of one of the robots from an alien planet and instead of congratulating you on a job well done, he attacked you and left his post to join the Decepticons. He's a traitor to MECH and not you or your men. But rest assured, because as of now General Silas will no longer be one with MECH"_

Jenkins perked up and was glad that was taken care of, but still felt saddened about the loss of his comrades. The board members noticed it and told him everything will be okay.

MECH Board Member 1: _"I could tell that you are still traumatized by what happened at the facility. So I believe it's wise that you recover from your experience and be given a psychic evaluation before you return to duty. I'll have these men escort you to the medical facility for your recovery. That will be all."_

Jenkins looked at the board and nodded in approval.

Private Jenkins: "Thank you for listening to me sirs. And please, give my condolences to the families of those soldiers that were lost in the attack."

MECH Board Member 1: _"We will private. You are dismissed."_

Jenkins saluted and turned around to leave as the doors opened up and the two guards escorted him to a waiting vehicle. When the doors closed, the first board member started to ask a question to someone in the room.

MECH Board Member 1: _"Well Director? Did you find what you're looking for?"_

As he asked that question, a mysterious figure came out of the shadows and appeared in the light. He was wearing a zipped up gray top jumpsuit with black design on the top, jumpsuit pants with a matching gray color, and a pair of military boots. Although his face was shrouded in darkness, a bit of light showed on his head. He looked to be in his mid forties, had black hair with graying sideburns on the side, a salt and pepper goatee around his mouth, and a pair of glasses on his face. This person was none other than the head of MECH's Science Division, The Director. The Director looked at the board members on the computer screens and responded with a southern accent.

Director: "Indeed I have my friend. But I knew this was bound to happen."

MECH Board Member 1: _"You knew this would happen?"_

Director: "But of course. Ever since he came to MECH, Silas wanted to be one with the gods. Now he got his wish. It's a shame that it wasn't the way he intended."

MECH Board Member 2: _"Indeed what you say is true. Project Chimera was supposed to be Silas's grand accomplishment in weaponry. But that one little mishap cost him everything he worked for. Silas betrayed his own men, after they saved him from the accident."_

MECH Board Member 1: _"Whatever the case, Silas is no longer an associate of MECH. If he wishes to be one with these Decepticons, then so be it. He won't return to our organization, even if he begs."_

The Director had a small grin on his face, content in the knowledge that his long-time rival is gone.

Director: "That is good news. And since Silas is no more and Project Chimera is scrapped, I do believe we should move on to a new day. That we should work together and create a better tomorrow for our organization."

There was an awkward silence from the board, unsure of his meaning. The first board member spoke up.

MECH Board Member 1: _"What are you referring to Director?"_

Director: "Why, I'm suggesting we leave Silas's project behind and move on to my project, one that can alter MECH's history."

The silence deepened as the details of the Director's project appeared on the main screen and the fourth member talked about it.

MECH Board Member 4: _"Your project? Is that what you are focusing on? We've been over this many times before Director. Your ideology and theories of your project is absolute madness! Hell, the process of this project is almost scientifically impossible!"_

MECH Board Member 3: _"I would disagree with you on that occasion. There are some scientific facts that are true and it does show promise."_

MECH Board Member 4: _"Is that so? Well even if there's a chance that this project would work, he doesn't have the tools necessary to complete it."_

The Director shook his head and countered the board member's concerns.

Director: "I could concur with you. You see, while you were all busy with what happened to Project Chimera, I have done all the research needed to make my project a reality. With help of an associate of mine and the research Silas gave to all of you, I've got the equipment and recourses necessary to start my work. With everything in near completion, I just have to gather some test subjects of my choosing, and we are ready to proceed. All I need is your approval and I shall begin. If the board remains skeptical about this, I can accept it. But the choice is yours."

There was a brief silence within the room as the screen had the 'Stand By' icon over the blank avatars. He waited five minutes for any news of their decision until the icons disappeared and the first board member responded.

MECH Board Member 1: _"Very well Director. The Board has agreed to give you the go ahead for your project, but under one condition. What we desire is visual evidence of your project. We need to see if your theory is correct and the end result. Do not show us a failed experiment, Director. You know MECH doesn't take kindly to failure. Do you understand me?"_

There was a small piece of silence between this conversation until the Director looked right at the board and responded.

Director: "But of course my dear friend. I promise you I will succeed where Silas has failed."

MECH Board Member 1: _"For your sake Director, you had better succeed. This meeting is adjourned."_

Instantly, all the computer screens went to static and they were all turned off. When the lights were turned on, the Director looked up at the blank monitors and smiled, knowing that he had everything in place. Just then, the two doors opened up behind him and a lone figure stood at the entranceway. The Director turned, yet knew who was at the door.

Director: "Commander Rourke…"

The mysterious individual known as Rourke stepped through the open door and into the light. He looked to be a man in his mid fifties with white hair that had a V shape in the front, a lean, muscular build and a rugged, tough look that makes him a true soldier. He was wearing a metallic armor combat vest loaded with ammo and grenades over his gray military shirt, dark green military pants with metallic knee pads, and combat style boots. On his left leg was a mechanical brace that went up to his knee to help him walk normally. He looked at the Director and responded.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir."

He turned to him and told him what he needed to do.

Director: "It's time to create the future of MECH."

* * *

A few minutes later, the two were walking down the huge hall where soldiers were in constant patrol. As they were walking, the two talked to each other about what happened at the meeting.

Director: "I do believe you heard everything at the meeting Rourke."

The commander answered him without looking right at him.

Commander Rourke: "Of course, sir, and I can't believe what had happened to Silas. He and I were good friends. I never would have imagined he would betray this organization after all that he had done for MECH."

Director: "Indeed commander. It is apparent that Silas's obsession with these mechanical aliens had cost him his position on MECH. It doesn't matter anyway. What's Silas's loss is officially our gain."

Commander Rourke: "With all due respect sir, but why are you interested in this project you've been working on for the past few months? It feels so wasteful and tedious, if you ask me."

The Director looked at him and found his words to be a bit offensive.

Director: "Don't tell me that you are on the board's side about my work commander."

Rourke turned to him and responded back quickly.

Commander Rourke: "Not at all sir. It's just that the method of your idea sounds scientifically impossible. It's not that normal for the military. I would prefer Silas's mechanized robot then the theory of your project."

The Director chuckled and gave the commander a bit of clarity as they approached a huge garage door.

Director: "As always commander you are jumping the gun. You see, Silas's Chimera only focused on the technicality of these alien visitors. I only want to focus on the true purpose of these mechanized beings, both inside and out."

Commander Rourke: "And what makes you think this professor you hired can help make your vision a reality? He's just a civilian with no military background."

Director: "That might be true commander, but he does have extensive experience in robotics and reverse engineering, and his resume proves it. What better person to start the project than him."

Once the two approached the garage door, the two soldiers guarding it snapped at attention. The Director approached a retina scanner and scanned his eye. When the scan was complete, an announcement was heard.

_'Welcome Director. Access granted.'_

Slowly the garage door began to open up and the two walked in. On the way, they entered what appeared to be a lab still under construction. There were large multiple berths covered in huge drapes cranes above it, a machine with many smaller cylinder containers at the front, and a huge tank in the back, and multiple computer consoles hooked up to each one. There were construction crews working feverishly getting all the machines ready while the technicians were installing and configuring the programs necessary for this project. The Director looked at all of it and was pleased. He then looked at the front and saw a lone figure talking to one of the maintenance workers. Smiling, he walked to the person and talked to him.

Director: "Well professor? What is the progress of my project?"

The professor perked up when he heard the director and dismissed the worker. Turning around, the man was in his early to mid forties, of Indian decent. He was a little shorter than the commander and showed a little belly while his black hair was spiky with a white streak in the middle of his front hairline. He was wearing the same science uniform as the others in MECH, but he didn't wear a mask to hide his face. Instead, he wore yellow goggles over his eyes for experimentation. This person went by the name of Professor Isaac Sumdac, robotic engineering expert. The professor looked at the two and greeted them.

Professor Sumdac: "Director, Commander Rourke. Nice of you to be here."

The commander lifted his hand to stop him there and told him what they are here for.

Commander Rourke: "Save it professor. The Director wants to know the status of his latest work. Understand?"

The Director lifted his hand up and calmed the commander down.

Director: "Take it easy, Rourke. The professor knows why I'm here. You don't need to force it on him."

The commander turned to him and nodded.

Commander Rourke: "Of course sir."

He then looked at the professor and nodded to go on. Sumdac cleared his throat and discussed about the progress of the project.

Professor Sumdac: "Um… Yes… Well everything is going ahead of schedule. With the help of the staff here, they have been working tirelessly in making all of this possible. There were a few setbacks here and there, but we've managed to isolate the problems and went back to the task at hand."

The Director smiled on the news and nodded in approval.

Director: "Excellent work Sumdac. How long until everything is operational?"

Professor Sumdac: "Well, we still need to make some final adjustments on the machines around here and then recalibrate the servers on the computers. So I say we would be finished within a few days, earlier if we're lucky."

Director: "Good. Then we are ahead of schedule. The sooner we get this project off the ground the better."

There was a bit of silence when the professor was wondering about all of this. He then decided to speak up.

Professor Sumdac: "Um, Director. Can I ask you something?"

Director: "Go ahead professor. What is it?"

The professor thought for a moment and told him straight up.

Professor Sumdac: "Yes, well first of all I really appreciate you hiring me to assist you on this project. But you never told me why you want me to be a part of this."

The Director looked right at him and could tell he was getting a little suspicious about his work. So he told him why he was really here.

Director: "I hired you professor because of your work. Your skills in robotics and machinery, combined with my knowledge, make an excellent combination for this project. Something that Silas failed to do since he was all about himself."

Professor Sumdac: "Still, I don't understand why you need me in this project. Indeed my experience in robotic engineering made me the perfect candidate in all of this. Though I don't know what all of this has to do with my skills and expertise, let alone how all of this works."

The professor looked back at all the equipment and computers and found all of it to be a bit too extreme for him. The Director could tell that he was so confused, so he told him what they were doing.

Director: "That, my dear professor, is the future you're building. MECH needs the most advanced weapons known to man and since the discovery of these alien beings, these Cybertronians as they are called; we found the advanced weapons beyond the stars. These machines will help us create the perfect robotic soldiers that will change the landscape of this war. But in order for this to work, we need to test it out on a few candidates. We can't complete this project without bringing in a few test subjects."

The two listened in and could agree with him on that occasion. A couple of test subjects may be needed for his project, whatever it is.

Commander Rourke: "If that's the case, then I'll have the medical units patch up a few recruits that will be suitable for this experiment."

The Director turned to his commander and told him no.

Director: "That won't be necessary commander. I cannot use our own men as sacrificial lambs if this experiment fails. No, what I was referring to are test subjects that would be suitable for this project, along with experience. File please."

A soldier came in and was holding a mysterious file in his hand. He handed it to the Director and he took it. He opened the file to take a look at the contents inside. He then handed it to them and showed them what he was looking for.

Director: "Here. This is what I'm looking for in the testing."

Both Rourke and Sumdac looked at the file while the professor got a hold of them. Looking at the contents in the file, Rourke looked back at the Director and asked him about it.

Commander Rourke: "These people?"

Director: "Yes Commander. These individuals are perfect for my experiment. I had my men scouting these four for some time and have all the information needed to help with this project. A shame that their town was attacked, but I believe the government or their friends managed to get them out of there before the invasion."

Commander Rourke: "What do you want me to do?"

The Director smirked and gave the order.

Director: "I want you to scatter all of your men throughout the United States. My probable guess is that they must've separated to evade capture when Jasper was invaded. Have your men find any eyewitnesses and question them if they've seen these people or any of the designated vehicles they were in or around. The list of those vehicles should be in the file. Oh and when you find them, do not engage. With their friends around, they will protect them. Wait until they're alone without any of their comrades or witnesses. From there you will bring them here and we will begin the procedure. Is that clear?"

The commander's response was to take four of the pictures that were in the file along with the list of vehicles they would be in and nodded in approval.

Commander Rourke: "Understood sir. I'll get on it right away."

He then left the two and left the room to gather his men for orders. But Isaac looked at the contents in the files and was a little skeptical about this. The Director saw his expression and knew he was worried about something, so he asked him.

Director: "You seem a little quiet professor. Is there a problem?"

Sumdac looked up at him and told him about these people.

Professor Sumdac: "No sir, everything is okay. It's just that the choice of test subjects you choose is a little questionable. I know that we have to go to the extremes for MECH, but, is it wise to choose these people? These four are nothing but civilians, one of which is a little too young to take part in the testing. What's the point bringing them in?"

The Director just chuckled at the professor's concern and told him about them.

Director: "Professor, these civilians are more than meets the eye. They have ties to these Autobots and had an encounter with Silas one way or another. It's based more around experience than background. What better way to try out my latest work then with these four helping us? Don't worry professor, once we get a hold of these four then you will see this project at work. I promise you that."

He patted the professor on the shoulder with a generous smile on his face before he left him to his work. But Isaac was still unsure of this idea. He looked back at the files and didn't know what to think. Within the file, there were multiple pictures of four individuals, one of a woman in her forties and wearing a nurse's uniform, one of a young boy at sixteen with black hair and a gray shirt approaching an unknown bike, one of a 15-year-old Japanese girl with black and pinkish purple pig/ponytail hair, and a much younger boy with glasses on and spiky brown hair. It was evident that these four were friends of the Autobots and their names are Jack and June Darby, Rafael or Raf for short, and Miko.

* * *

**Well what do you think? Is it good? Bad? I know it's just a small introduction, but it's a little something to wet your appetite. Now I know you are wondering why I added June into the list. Obviously, she wasn't in the second season except from the beginning to the very end. It felt a little weird actually. But why would I add her with the other three? Well, that's a secret only I know. You have to read the remaining chapters to yourself once I update them. And on the next chapter, you get to see the Autobots and then a kidnapping. Believe me, you will know it when you read it. Please Review.**


	2. Captured

**Wow… I can't imagine this would happen in a long time. The moment I posted the first chapter of this story, the response was amazing. A total of nine reviews and a hit counter of up to 2,532. This was a complete shocker even for me. Now I know that there are a few people that think that they want a full episode and not individual chapters. Well I just need to say is that I can't write too much in one go. I have to post these chapters up individually that way I have a fresh mind. Not to mention I have college, work, and other things I need to attend. So I want all of you to please be patient. Even if season three starts airing on the Hub, I will still write my own version for you to read it. And believe me, after looking at this Beast Hunters toy line on the internet, I have a very bad feeling that things would go downhill from there. There is also a request for one reviewer that I should change the story format from this, Character: "", to this, "". As much as I like to see support, I can't do something like that since it will be confusing in some speeches. But hey I'll use that concept on a few occasions in later chapters. Time to get started with chapter 2 of Transformers Prime Season 3 Episode 1. As the team gets settled in to their new base, they place the blame game on one of their own. Meanwhile, MECH plans on capturing the kids and June. What's bound to happen in this chapter? Well you have to read to find out.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Now the Autobots will make an appearance in this chapter, but I need to give you a little heads up before I get started. Due to Bumblebee having no voice box and has to communicate through beeps and boops, I decided to change his quotes from this "" to this () with bold italics. That way his speech would work well with my stories. Another thing I'm going to add is the introduction of each chapter. You saw the letter the Director gave to MECH at the start before the main story kicked in right? Well, I'm going to do something like that in the beginning of each chapter along with other knick-knacks. It's just a little something I want to do when watching Red vs. Blue Reconstruction. Thought it would fit well with this story/episode. Now just to be clear on this, those types of introductions are going to be in this episode and not all others in the near future. Don't want to run out of ideas right?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Two: Captured

_Agent Fowler,_

_As liaison of the Autobots your task is simple, to make sure this Autobot/Decepticon war is under the radar. So tell me why there is a robotic city close to Jasper, Nevada, let alone near the location of Autobot Outpost Omega One? This isn't under the radar to begin with. Not only that, but that outpost has been destroyed, and Jasper has been invaded. Now the news media have been talking about this for a week, and the President and the Pentagon are on edge. We're walking on thin ice here Fowler, and these Autobots are the cause of all of this!_

_Now you did tell me that these Autobots didn't mean for any of it to happen, and I appreciate Ratchet giving us the location of this new base he'd been working on. But as of right now, we must draw the line on what needs to be done. If these Decepticons are searching for survivors, the Autobots need to be well hidden and dare not leave their new base until further notice. I will not allow any open activity that could result in the slightest chance of getting one of them shot._

_As for those **'interns'** you told me about, they can no longer remain with the Autobots. Having those kids with those aliens is too dangerous, and they can no longer be protected by them. There were too many casualties in the Jasper invasion; I will not sanction any more deaths. Therefore, they are to be removed from the Autobot's new base and brought into protective custody. I understand that they were a big help in this war, but times have changed and we need to make sure no more lives are at risk. That's final. Don't screw this up Fowler, or it would mean your resignation. The choice is yours._

_Sincerely,  
General Bryce_

* * *

It had been a week since the cons' attack, and the town of Jasper and the military were on edge. But on the shores of Lake Erie, a military escort was driving down the road to its secret destination. There were three combat jeeps in the front and three in the back, with two big rigs in the center carrying large containers of some unidentified cargo. At the front of the convoy, a black man with a pot belly and frizzled dark hair was on the passenger side, searching for a specific location on his specially-equipped GPS.

Looking up at the road from time to time, he guided the soldier sitting behind the wheel. That passenger was none other than special agent William Fowler, a former Army Ranger and official Autobot liaison. Suddenly, a blinking light appeared on his GPS. Looking up, Fowler spied a rarely used exit. Pointing to it, he told the soldier to turn.

Agent Fowler: "There. Take that exit."

The soldier looked at the exit and acknowledged.

Soldier 1: "Yes sir."

The soldier turned off at the exit, and the rest of the convoy followed behind. As they were driving, Fowler took a deep sigh while rubbing his temples. He just couldn't believe everything had gone downhill so far, so fast. One minute, all was as it was before, the next, a white light shot down from the sky and hit near Jasper. Then, within seconds, a Decepticon city, which the Autobots now call New Kaon, appeared out of the light beside Autobot Outpost Omega One. And that's when the attack started.

The Autobots tried to defend themselves from the assault, but they were overwhelmed and outnumbered. Fowler and Wheeljack went ahead and held them off as much as they could while the bots evacuated the base. But it was to no avail, as this ever growing army continued to rain down on them. Jackie's Jackhammer was taken down by Starscream's missile, causing him to crash away from the assault, and Fowler had to rescue June, Jack's mother, from getting killed by one of the cons.

And then, just when it seemed that things couldn't possibly have gotten worse, they did. The Nemesis, the Decepticon's flagship, hovered over the Autobot's base and used some kind of ultimate weapon to destroy it in a single blast.

Fowler watched this go down and was shocked by the enormity of it all. June was hysterical, fearing she'd lost her son. Fowler tried his best to reassure her, certain they'd already left the base to evade capture.

After trying to calm her down, they returned to base and briefed General Bryce. Thankfully, it was far from Jasper or things might have been worse. While briefing the general, news of the cons' assault continued to worsen, as they had attacked Jasper while it was being evacuated. The casualty count was high, with little evidence of survivors.

As if that wasn't bad enough, a force field began surrounding New Kaon and grew outward, emanating from a huge tower at its center. The field prevented military and relief reinforcements from reaching their destinations, and nearly trapped Wheeljack in that nightmare. Thank goodness he had survived the attack and was able to get towed to a safer location before the force field reached him.

Bryce was about to terminate Fowler as Autobot liaison, but the special agent convinced him that there may still be hope. He convinced Bryce of the likelihood that Optimus and his comrades had escaped the base through the ground bridge, and separated to avoid capture. If they were going to prevent this war from spreading, then the military forces had to find the Autobots and their charges, and quickly, because if the cons got to them first they would certainly be massacred. The general was hesitant at first, but he knew they couldn't defend themselves without the bots' help. So he agreed, and the search and rescue began.

For a week, military units had been out searching through every state trying to locate the Autobots. It was an enormous undertaking, but they managed to find each one along with their human companions. Half of the bots were hiding in forests and caves to mask their energon signatures, while the ones that were guarding the kids hid in abandoned buildings so they would have a roof over their heads. As for the kids, they were anything if not resourceful! They had learned, ever since the Unicron incident, to keep a "bug out bag" ready for survival, filled with food, money, first aid, clothes, toiletries, and other necessities.

The Autobots were forced to ration their energon fuel, for fear of becoming too weak should they suddenly have to battle Decepticons. While on the run, they scavenged for any untapped energon within forested areas. It had been a rough week for all of them; the cons had already confiscated most of the planet's available energon and the bug out bags were running low. Things were worse off for the Autobots with New Kaon beyond their reach. But, thought Fowler, at least now they are reunited!

It was a glorious reunion back at the military base. But someone was missing, and that bot was the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. Fowler had gone to Ratchet and inquired about his status. Ratchet explained that he had to remain behind at Autobot Outpost Omega One after everyone else had left so that the ground bridge controls could be destroyed. In this way, the Decepticons would be unable to trace their whereabouts. When he heard this, Fowler clenched his fists, shut his eyes tight and lowered his head, realizing what that meant. It meant that Optimus was caught in the blast from the ultimate weapon. Without Optimus, and without a Prime, then the Decepticon's victory appeared likely.

Now, here they are all traveling to a new location that would at least keep the remaining Autobots safe and sound. Of course, being together once again, the Decepticons could find them and attack without any hesitation. Therefore, General Bryce decided that the Autobots must have a location far from his military bases. The problem is that Soundwave can locate them by picking up their energon signals, and if they attempted any kind of radio communication he can trace that as well, so finding any spot at all is difficult.

Fortunately, Ratchet had found a good place for them to hide, and provided Fowler with the directions. Strangely enough, this location was somewhere in the middle of Lake Erie, between the US and Canada, and Ratchet provided Fowler with directions to a place of entry into the lake. So Fowler arranged an escort to bring them there. There was a reason for the two huge semis in the middle of the convoy; they were carrying special titanium steel containers, designed to mask any energon signal emanating from within. In this way the convoy could travel undetected. Nevertheless, Fowler knew they still needed some military hardware, just in case they met up with Decepticons.

However, it wasn't relocating them to a new base that had Fowler worried. What he was worried about was what he was going to say to them after they arrived. Ever since they were hiding from the enemy, the Autobots and their human companions were in the dark about the past week's events. None of them knew anything about what happened to Autobot Outpost Omega One, or Jasper, with the exception of June and himself. He had thought that after everyone arrived at the new base, he could bring them up to speed. But he knew the reaction would be very, very bad.

But that wasn't the half of it. When Bryce saw that the "interns" were nothing but a bunch of kids, he was irate. So much so that he wanted Fowler to take them along with June into protective custody until they could be relocated to someplace safe. Fowler didn't like that as he knew if he did that, then the kids would be separated from their robotic friends, probably forever. He would try his best to reason with Bryce and give them a chance at living with the Autobots, but he didn't know if it would happen any time soon. But until then, he had to follow orders whether he liked them or not.

For the past several hours, they had been driving from a military base in Illinois to a location close to Detroit, Michigan. It was a grueling journey, getting the convoy to its destination. Fowler studied the GPS and noticed that the red dot was getting close, almost too close. He looked up to try to determine the precise location. As he was looking, he spied a wide building down at the shoreline of the lake, sitting on top of a stone-like pier. Looking back to the GPS, he knew that this was the spot.

Agent Fowler: "Over there. Head to that building."

The soldier looked and nodded in agreement. They slowly drove down to the building with the convoy following close behind. Arriving, the convoy made a complete stop and Fowler and the soldier exited the vehicle. Looking up at the building, Fowler wondered why Ratchet picked this place. Brushing that aside, he looked back and told everyone in the jeeps to get out.

Agent Fowler: "All right, everyone out! I want this area secured! Keep an eye out for cons. You may never know when they might come out."

Immediately soldiers jumped out of the jeep and protected the area while the gunners went to the roofs keeping an eye on all angles. In the jeep behind the trucks, four people came out but they weren't soldiers. There was a 16-year-old boy with black hair and a calming personality, a 12-year-old highly intelligent boy with glasses, a 15-year-old Japanese girl with a pony/pigtail, black and pink hair and a rebellious attitude and a woman wearing a nurse's uniform and a jacket. It's obvious that these people were Jack and June Darby, Rafael "Raf" Jorge Gonzales Esquivel, and Miko Nakadai, human friends of the Autobots. They all looked at the building and were just as confused as Fowler.

Jack: "So, this is where the Autobots would be staying? Not the wisest of places huh?"

Fowler turned to Jack and told him that he had no idea either.

Agent Fowler: "Ratchet said that this is the only place where he and the others will be kept safe. Don't know why he picked this place, but only one way to find out."

He turned to the two soldiers at the door and gave the command.

Agent Fowler: "Open the doors."

The two soldiers headed to the middle of the entrance and pulled the doors open. Fowler, the kids, and the nurse went in while the soldiers stayed behind to keep watch. As they got in, they noticed that it was nothing more than a boat garage. There were boats on the ceiling, wood to make boats on the side, a control console at the corner of the room, and toolboxes scattered about. The place didn't look like it had been used in a long time; cobwebs were scattered about and dust covered everything. Miko placed her finger on the table and pulled it to the other end, turning it to look at the tip.

Miko: "Cozy… If this is Ratchet's idea of staying safe, I'm so not laughing."

June: "I could agree with Miko. Why would Ratchet want to hide the Autobots here? It would make them much easier targets."

The agent looked at the nurse and shrugged his shoulders.

Agent Fowler: "You may be right, but Ratchet said that this is a perfect place for them to hide. Maybe there is more to this place then we think. Let me check it out."

Fowler looked around the area for clues. So far, he found nothing out of the ordinary. Just as he was about to give up hope, he decided to check out the control console. He remembered Ratchet telling him that there would be a console where he could gain access, so he decided to look further. He noticed that it was really old and didn't show much of anything. But then he noticed a blinking red button, meaning it was on standby. Curious, he pushed on the red button and waited for something to happen. The second he pressed it, the old console split open and a new one rose up, looking all high tech and had an Autobot insignia on the screen. He was surprised about this as the screen now showed a message that said _'Open Main Entrance'_ with a choice of yes and no underneath. Looking at this, he decided to click _'Yes'_ to see what might happen.

After a few seconds, there was a lot of shaking around the building; everyone thought it was an earthquake. But what happened next was a shock. In the middle of the floor, a compartment opened wide enough to let a bunch of vehicles in. Once the compartment fully opened, lights on the walls flickered to life to illuminate the way. Everyone looked on and was in awe at this new passage. Jack stared in disbelief.

Jack: "Whoa… Didn't see this one coming."

Fowler looked at the entranceway and couldn't believe that it was underneath this structure the whole time. But at least he saw that they had a way in. So he turned to the soldiers and ordered them to move.

Agent Fowler: "We got our entrance! Get our package down there now!"

One of the soldiers nodded as he signaled the truck drivers to proceed. Soon enough, the two trucks drove down the ramp in the boating garage and were away from harm. Two jeeps followed behind, with one holding the Autobot's friends, while the remaining convoy stood watch in case any Decepticons were near the area. For several minutes, the trucks and jeeps drove down the ramp, descending deeper and deeper beneath the lake. All of a sudden, the engine sounds bouncing off of the tunnel walls ended, as the convoy entered what appeared to be an enormous dark room. While they were wondering where they were, lights within the room began turning on, as if their arrival was expected.

Fowler and the others got out of their jeeps and were surprised at the sight. Surrounding them was a huge room which from appearances must be the command center. There were multiple monitors on the wall that flickered on shortly after the vehicles entered. Located below the monitors were Cybertronian controls, including a ground bridge device that looked more high tech then the last one. To the left was a separate hallway with two huge doors in the middle, and on the right was the ground bridge. Though high-tech and impressive, it appeared to be under mid-construction. There were huge tools scattered everywhere, some of the screens were off or showing static, and the ground bridge looked half done. Nonetheless, Miko looked at all of this and was impressed.

Miko: "Sweet! Now we're talking."

Fowler looked around and realized that this was the place Ratchet was talking about. He turned to his men and gave the orders.

Agent Fowler: "Open the truck doors. Let them out."

The soldiers opened the back of the truck doors and extended the ramps underneath. Once the doors and ramps were secured, the sound of engines started inside the containers. Coming out of those trucks were a variety of vehicles. Out of one came an ambulance, a muscle car with a yellow and black striped paintjob, and a blue motorcycle with pink highlights. From the other came a green souped-up SUV, a race car with double 38s and flame decals on the doors, and a white sports car with a red and green decaled design on the hood, roof, and doors. The moment they got out and were in the middle of the room, something amazing happened. As the cars parked, they started to grow, expand, and shift in different sizes, some big, some small. It's almost like they had transformed. In a matter of seconds, what were once vehicles were now cybernetic robots from the planet Cybertron, or to put it in its simplest term, Autobots.

There's the team's field medic Ratchet, the scout Bumblebee, two Wreckers Bulkhead and Wheeljack, the femme Cyber-Ninja Arcee, and the former Elite Guard soldier Smokescreen. Once they transformed into their bipedal modes, they began to stretch and groan as the confined space of those trucks made their joints ache. Fowler approached the team and could tell that they were a little sore.

Agent Fowler: "Sorry about the uncomfortable trip, but we needed to find a way to transport you safely without getting noticed by cons."

Arcee was the first to speak after she regained her mobility.

Arcee: "You know it would be nice if we drove ourselves to this place instead of having this little military escort."

Fowler turned to the femme and rebutted her comment.

Agent Fowler: "And get yourselves blasted in the open? I don't think so. Even if you managed to escape your base, the Decepticons are still tracking your energon signatures. If they found your signatures, you guys would be scrapped in a matter of seconds. Those trucks you were in have a special metal that can block any energon signature the cons would detect. Be glad we got you guys here in one piece or you would've been dead to begin with."

As he finished this explanation, everyone looked around and realized that they were in a place they had never seen before. Well, all except Ratchet, as he knew it pretty well. Bumblebee was the first to speak about it.

Bumblebee: _**(Speaking of which, where are we anyways? I've never seen this place before.)**_

Bulkhead looked at him and agreed with the scout.

Bulkhead: "You and me both Bee. This place is a whole lot different than our old base."

Ratchet: "Well, I never thought we would have to use this base until now. Still, I wasn't expecting this since what happened back at Jasper."

Everyone stopped looking around and turned to Ratchet, who was checking the console.

Arcee: "All right Ratchet, spill. What exactly is this place and what do you know about it?"

Ratchet looked back at them and sighed, realizing that they needed to know about this place. He then started to explain about it and why they were here.

Ratchet: "When we first arrived on this planet, I knew I had to find another place in case more Autobot rebels decided to head to Earth. I researched sites where our comrades could stay and found this place. From what I understand, this was once a fallout shelter built in the 1960's for protection against a nuclear war. After that crisis was adverted it was decommissioned and used for storage and other necessities. And, being that it's underneath Lake Erie, it's impossible for the Decepticons to detect our energon signatures. I've been working part-time on this new outpost for three stellar cycles while the rest of you were busy patrolling the planet searching for untapped energon. Of course that was until the Decepticons arrived and I had to put this project on hold until it was all over."

The team listened intently and couldn't believe there was a secondary base that Ratchet had been building unknown to them. Arcee was incredulous and asked if anyone else was aware of these efforts.

Arcee: "Did anyone else know about this besides you?"

Ratchet was silent for a moment until he answered the femme's question.

Ratchet: "The only other bot who knew about this was Optimus. I told him about this place and asked permission to build it for more Autobots when they arrived on Earth. He approved it and I began work on this place."

Now this surprised everyone! Then Smokescreen spoke up.

Smokescreen: "Wait a nanoclick. Optimus knew about this place, yet he didn't bridge us here instead of scattering us across this land?"

The medic turned to the rookie and shot back.

Ratchet: "Hey! Optimus didn't expect Megatron to place a fortress near our base and attack it and neither did I. We had no choice but to separate all of you to avoid any capture whatsoever. We had very little time in which to do this."

But Fowler came forward and offered his opinion.

Agent Fowler: "I have to agree with the rookie, Ratchet. You or Optimus should've let me know about this new base. I am your liaison and I need to know what all of you bots are doing. The least you could have done was let me see the base before you started constructing it."

Ratchet looked down at the agent and explained why he didn't want to show him the place.

Ratchet: "Believe me when I say this Agent Fowler, I had fully intended to show you this base when it was finished. But when the Decepticons decided to show their faces, I had to delay this project. Never really thought I would be letting you all in on this secret until now."

It was then that the other kids chimed in and said it was too late.

Jack: "Well, the secret's out. Now everyone knows about this place, both Autobot and human."

Raf: "And with nowhere else to go, it's our new home now."

Miko: "So what should we know about this new base?"

Fowler looked at the kids and sighed to himself, knowing that he had to break the news sooner than later. Ratchet looked at the three, then at Team Prime, and began his overview.

Ratchet: "Well for starters the quarters are down that hall over there for the Autobots to recharge. The door to the right contains the training room, shooting gallery, and medical ward along with an energon storage area that has enough energon that will keep us stable for two stellar cycles. Though I suggest rationing since it's going to be a while until we can safely start searching for more untapped energon. There are other rooms I haven't used yet, probably we could use it for weapons or any Iacon relics we might find, if we're lucky. And there's a garage at the far end for Wheeljack to make repairs on his ship. Other than that, I still need to work on fixing that ground bridge over there in case we need to search for energon or relics in distant locations. And I need to make some modifications on the other rooms; they are half finished."

Everyone listened to get a better understanding of their new base until Bulkhead asked a question.

Bulkhead: "And where did you find that much energon?"

He looked at the Wrecker and answered him truthfully.

Ratchet: "Well, you know all that energon we gathered these past stellar cycles? I 'borrowed' a little."

Arcee: "Guess that explains why we ran low on our supply so quickly. And you said that we have to ration."

The medic looked at the femme and grunted to himself.

Ratchet: "Be lucky that you got energon in this base to begin with. Otherwise you all would've starved."

Wheeljack heard this conversation and decided to join in.

Wheeljack: "Look, I don't know about you guys but I can't just stay around here and do nothing. I just want to get the Jackhammer repaired and find that wretched Seeker that tried to shoot me down."

Fowler sensed the anger coming from this bot and tried to calm him down.

Agent Fowler: "Easy there killer, I've already got my men delivering your ship to the coordinates Ratchet gave me. You will get it back in half an hour. But in the meantime, you have to remain here until the heat is gone. Since they think you went offline in the crash, it would be wise to stay in the base at all times and keep a low profile."

Wrecker looked down at the agent and groaned to himself.

Wheeljack: "Whatever you say, Tiny. But I'm not sitting on my aft while the con that nearly terminated me gets away scot free. I'm going out there and give him some major payback."

He then started to walk away from the group and headed to the door that led to the medic and training room. Everyone looked at him and wondered where he was going.

Bulkhead: "Jackie, where do you think you're going?"

Wheeljack: "To the energon storage room. I need to get some fuel for my ship when it gets here."

The door opened in front of him to let him through. When the door closed behind him, Fowler remembered what Optimus said about the Wreckers and chuckled to himself.

Agent Fowler: "Hmm… Accepting missions not under the chain of command indeed."

Bulk turned to the agent and assured him that he's just a little aggravated.

Bulkhead: "Aw don't mind Wheeljack, he's just still upset about Starscream shooting him down. You know how he is."

The agent turned to him and responded back.

Agent Fowler: "Yeah? Well he can join the Starscream Haters Club if he wants some payback."

The Wrecker looked at him, confused by what he meant. But he let it slide as the team started to talk about their situation while Ratchet started working on the console to get it up and running.

Arcee: "All right, now that we're together, we still need a plan to counterattack."

Bumblebee: _**(And how are we going to do that? In case you're forgetting Arcee, the Decepticons have a fortress outside of Jasper. Who knows how many Decepticons are there now.)**_

Bulkhead: "Bee is right. With that fortress out there, there could be a huge army waiting for us. I mean we don't know if we can take them on judging by the situation we're in right now."

Smokescreen shook his head and told them what he thinks.

Smokescreen: "Haven't you guys already forgotten? We're Autobots! We've been through tougher scrapes then this. And besides, once Optimus comes back and we are all reunited, the cons won't stand a chance. Ain't that right Ratchet?"

But Ratchet stopped what he was doing when he heard Smokescreen talking about Optimus and sighed to himself, not knowing how they would take the news. Smokescreen noticed his reaction and wondered what got him so under the weather.

Smokescreen: "Ratchet, what's wrong? Is it something I said?"

The other Autobots looked at him too and could tell that something was up. Smokescreen was trying to put the pieces together until he realized something.

Smokescreen: "Optimus is coming back, isn't he?"

It was then that the medic turned to the former Elite Guard member and told him straight away.

Ratchet: "To tell you the truth Smokescreen, I really don't know."

The others now were concerned about this unexpected development as Arcee came in and asked away.

Arcee: "What happened, Ratchet? What happened back at Outpost Omega One?"

Ratchet took a deep breath through his ventilation system and decided to tell them outright. Looking at them, he explained everything.

Ratchet: "After all of you left the base through the ground bridge, Optimus told me to go on ahead while he remained at the controls."

That's when everyone's jaws dropped as Jack responded back.

Jack: "Optimus stayed at the base? But why?"

Ratchet: "He believed that if we all left the base, the Decepticons would pinpoint our locations through the ground bridge controls, making their victory close to successful. My guess is that he was going to use his Star Saber to destroy the control consoles and hold the cons off himself until he could make an escape. I really don't know about the outcome though since I left the base before he could do that."

As everyone listened to what Ratchet said about Optimus, Fowler rubbed his head and knew that telling them what really happened was going to be tougher then he thought. Everyone just couldn't believe that their leader could do that as Bulkhead tried to understand all of it.

Bulkhead: "You mean to tell us that Optimus remained at the base while taking on cons all by himself?"

Bumblebee: _**(That's suicide!)**_

Ratchet: "I know it's suicide, Bumblebee, but he knew the risks! His decision saved our lives and we should be thankful for that. And this is Optimus were talking about! He's been through worse scraps then this. I'm sure he must've gotten out of there safely and is trying to reach this base even as we speak."

Agent Fowler: "I don't think that's the case Ratchet."

Almost immediately, the bots and kids looked at the agent and wondered what he meant by that.

Ratchet: "What do you mean Agent Fowler?"

The former Army Ranger lowered his head and sighed to himself, preparing to deliver the bad news.

Agent Fowler: "Look, I had to leave you in the dark about what happened for a week. I was going to tell you all of this after you had settled in, but since you all want to know what happened out there in Jasper I have to tell you now. So here goes."

Fowler took a deep breath and started to give them what happened in Jasper bit by bit.

Agent Fowler: "Just last week, when the cons decided to attack your base after they made their residence, Megatron used his flagship to blow up the outpost."

Now that got everyone's attention as a few managed to say a few words.

Arcee: "What!?"

Ratchet: "How!?"

Fowler took a breather and gives them the details.

Agent Fowler: "From what June and I saw, Megatron must've used a weapon that is similar to Silas's Damocles. He must've the used the schematics of the satellite to modify it into his ship. It leveled everything in one shot, leaving nothing but rubble and debris in its place. Judging by what Ratchet told me about Optimus and what he did when you all evacuated the facility, we should all accept the fact that…"

He lowered his head and was about ready to say it to them. He didn't care about the reaction, he had to give him the news no matter what. He looked right up at them with a stern yet sorrowful expression and told them in four words.

Agent Fowler: "Optimus Prime is dead."

It was that moment that when the base was so quiet, you could drop a pin to the ground. Many emotions were swirling in their processors when they heard the news and didn't know what to say. Finally, Arcee broke the silence as she started to regain her voice box.

Arcee: "Optimus is gone? No… No! That's impossible! Prime wouldn't get himself offline like that! There is no way!"

Fowler turned to her and shook his head.

Agent Fowler: "I'm sorry Arcee, but it's all true. No one could have survived a blast like that, not even Optimus."

It was soon after that that Bulkhead formed his hand into a wrecking ball and smashed it to the metal ground, getting his optics leveled with the agent.

Bulkhead: "Not even Optimus? Are you slagging kidding me!? Optimus was our only hope in ending this war! And now that he's gone, who will lead us to victory? The least you could've done was recover his body if there was any doubt that he survived the attack."

The agent glared at the Wrecker and retorted back.

Agent Fowler: "Do you really think I could do that? What's left of the outpost is close to the cons new home. I'm pretty sure they've got that place heavily guarded from what I can see. Besides, we've got bigger issues right now that is of everyone's concern, both human and Autobot."

Smokescreen: "Is that right? And what's more important than Optimus' termination?"

Fowler turned his head away and didn't know how to say it to them. It was going to be hard for them, including the kids being that Jasper was their home. But he had to tell them the news so they could be prepared for what's ahead. So he looked at each of the bots and the kids and told them about what happened to Jasper.

Agent Fowler: "After they blew up the base, Megatron decided to deliver a message to the world, a message that would be loud and clear. So he decided to attack a nearby town that had inhabitants. And the only town that was closest to the outpost was Jasper, Nevada."

Everyone gave each other looks and was shocked by the news as Bumblebee started to respond to it.

Bumblebee: _**(Jasper? But how is that possible?)**_

Arcee: "Yeah… I thought you said Jasper was evacuated."

Agent Fowler: "Yes I did. But evacuation took longer than expected. People were grabbing anything they could before they could leave. Anything from food, clothing, and their own precious possessions. Hell, the military got involved in the evacuation too, getting choppers and busses for those that didn't have any transportation. It had run smoothly and half the town left without problems. But just as they were going to evacuate the rest of the town, the Decepticons came out of nowhere and attacked. The army tried their best to hold them off but it was hopeless. The cons breached every defense imaginable, destroyed every building they saw fit, and the civilians that were supposed to leave town, well, they were all killed in the attack."

When the children heard the news their hearts sank. Jasper, the town they grew up in, where Miko made some real friends, where they had the greatest of memories with or without the Autobots, was gone. June looked at the three and her heart ached for them. Since she was with Fowler the whole time after the attack, she already knew the news of Jasper and was devastated by it. She knew how distressed they would feel when news got to them, and couldn't do anything but let Fowler tell them right away. But Jack, he took it differently. His blood was boiling when he heard his hometown was destroyed and looked at the agent with anger in his eyes.

Jack: "You mean those Decepticons destroyed Jasper? That everyone is dead!?"

The former Army Ranger turned to him and cleared some things with him before his anger blew over.

Agent Fowler: "It wasn't a total massacre Jack. We did succeed in vacating half the town before the attack. I personally saw to it that Raf's family and Miko's host parents were gotten out of town before anyone else. Can't let anything happen to them, right?"

Both Raf and Miko took deep breaths, hearing that their families got out of there safely. Fowler then went back to the task at hand and told them even worse news.

Agent Fowler: "Sadly though, that's the only good news we've had since this mess began. We have no clue how many people were still in the town when the cons attacked, or if they survived. Even if we could send a rescue squad to go in and search for any survivors, it would be impossible."

Arcee: "And why is that?"

The agent turned to the femme and answered her question.

Agent Fowler: "Because the cons have the place well protected. When they attacked Jasper, General Bryce sent in reinforcements. But just when they were about to arrive, that tower at the center of the fortress activated some kind of barrier to protect the cons inside and keep anyone out. We fired missiles at the barrier, but it was too strong to penetrate. You can drop a nuke on them it still wouldn't phase them. Now we have a huge military armada on standby circling the barrier, waiting for anything to happen. Meanwhile, this planet is in total chaos since this incident last week. There are army outposts placed all over the towns and cities of Nevada, from Reno to Vegas while the rest of the world is on full alert. The government is trying to keep the people in this country calm, but it's complete anarchy out there. There are those remaining in their homes, fearing that there could be cons out there, while looters are breaking into stores for food and supplies. Meanwhile, some religious nut jobs are out preaching that the con's appearance is marking some form of apocalypse or end of the world. Not only that, but I have the President and the Pentagon breathing down my neck, wanting answers to this whole debacle. So, can anyone explain to me why the Decepticons have created a city in the United States?"

There was silence in the room as no one had any idea how to explain this to the agent. Ratchet was at the console with his head down after hearing the news that Optimus didn't make it out of the base. And it was the leader's decision to stay and destroy the ground bridge console and knew the risks. The medic should've stayed there and not a Prime. Why didn't he do that? When he heard Fowler asking how did all that happen, he decided that it would be best to tell him, after he gave the news of what happened to the base and to the town close to it. Ratchet turned to the agent and prepared to give him the full story, trying at the same time to get the death of his old friend out of his processor.

Ratchet: "Over an orn ago we discovered a way to bring Cybertron back to its full glory. Four Iacon relics, known as the Omega Keys were the ticket. We had been searching for them for stellar cycles and had our ups and downs along with a few surprises. But after all of that, we finally managed to collect all four keys and brought them to the Omega Lock on our planet, which would revitalize Cybertron. We were this close to victory when I lost communications with Prime and the base was experiencing some electrical distortion from the high-energy spikes occurring outside. When it was all over, Optimus called for a bridge back to base but the moment the team got back, they were carrying the kids in capsules and news that the Omega Lock was destroyed. So, can anyone please tell me WHAT THE FRAG HAPPENED ON CYBERTRON!?"

He turned to the Autobots and spat back at them, asking what happened on their home planet. Each of them looked at each other and could understand his anger in this whole situation. But he wasn't there when everything went downhill and he was still confused by it all. So Arcee stepped in and told him about the incident.

Arcee: "When we entered the bridge to Cybertron, we focused our attention on the cons that had all the keys in their possession. The battle was tough, but we managed to pry those keys out of Megatron's clawed digits and made way to the location of the Omega Lock. At first we were this close to putting life back to our home planet, but Megatron came back, this time with a proposition, and had Jack, Raf, and Miko as part of it. I don't know how they got them, but my guess is that they were using them as hostages and putting them up for ransom."

Ratchet: "Really? And how did the Decepticons managed to take the kids?"

The medic turned to the kids and wanted an explanation from them. Jack rubbed the back of his head and started to tell him what happened.

Jack: "Remember when we called you to see what happened to the others after school? Well, we were on our way home like you said when Knock Out started to follow us."

Raf: "We tried to get away from him but he kept on tracking us no matter where we went. Just as we were about to lose him, we ran into a dead end in an alleyway with Knock Out trapping us."

Miko: "Yeah! We were hoping that we would escape when Knock Out transformed, but just as we were going to do that Soundwave came out of nowhere and trapped us in those capsules. They then took us to the Nemesis and bridged us to Cybertron. So yeah, that's what happened."

Ratchet: "And how did the cons find you to begin with?!"

There was a bit of silence until Jack spoke up.

Jack: "I think it had something to do with Soundwave picking up the call and tracing it to us. At least that's what I thought."

Smokescreen: "Jack might be right."

Ratchet turned to the Elite Guard member and was interested in what he was going to say.

Ratchet: "Is that so?"

Smokescreen: "Yes it is. Lazerbeak, Soundwave's little pet, tried to shoot me out of the road before his master knocked me out and took me to the Nemesis. My guess is that Lazerbeak was looking for our base within the Nevada desert and must've picked up Jack's call while searching. And judging by what we saw, found the location of the outpost."

Bulkhead: "Whatever the case, the cons had the kids in their possession and were using them as a trade off. If we gave the keys to them, they would hand us the children unharmed. If we refused, they were going to let them out of those containers and die slowly from Cybertron's toxic environment. So we had to do what was best for them."

Ratchet listened to what happened and tried to put the pieces together. After gathering the information needed, his optics were wide and soon realized what they had done.

Ratchet: "You mean to tell me that you surrendered the keys to Megatron? What the slag were you thinking?!"

Team Prime looked at each other and knew that he would be upset about this. They then looked at him and tried to reason with him.

Bumblebee: _**(What were we thinking? We had no choice!)**_

Ratchet: "What do you mean you had no choice? We always have a choice! Our mission was simple, to head to Cybertron, get the Omega Keys, head to the Omega Lock and restore our home planet. Instead, your surrendered the keys to the Decepticons just to save these kids! What's next? Surrender the All Spark to the Fallen? Or worse yet, reawaken Unicron in the center of the Earth? I can imagine the foolish choices all of you would make!"

Miko just about had it with this and yelled back at the medic.

Miko: "Well maybe if you had picked us up from school or bridged us into the safety of the base, then none of us would be in this mess in the first place!"

The other Autobots looked at their friends and couldn't believe what they just heard. That Ratchet didn't pick them up from school while they were busy saving their planet. There were a lot of questions in their processors as to why he didn't take them to the safety of the base. Arcee especially since her partner was in complete danger and she didn't want him to get killed just like what happened to Tailgate and Cliffjumper. Ratchet turned to the kids and argued back.

Ratchet: "Oh really? Well maybe if you weren't involved in our little war from the start then we would've won it to begin with!"

Now that really got the Autobots upset. It's one thing to not take the kids back to base, it's another telling them that they shouldn't be involved in their war, especially considering all the things they've done for them over the last several months. Fowler looked at this argument and could tell that it was getting really heated. So he started to clear his throat and break up this fight.

Agent Fowler: "Look, I don't care who's at fault here. What we do know is that the cons have changed the playing field in the war and now everyone knows of your existence. Under General Bryce's orders, you all need to remain in this base until further notice. Since the Decepticons are searching for you across the globe, it's wise that you stay here to prevent any more human casualties. As for the kids, they need to be removed to protective services until a relocation notice is in order."

The kids heard that and turned to the agent and were shocked by the news that he gave.

Miko: "Us?"

Raf: "Under protective services? Without the Autobots' protection?"

Jack: "Why? We haven't done anything in this incident. We were held captive by Megatron and were put up for ransom."

Fowler turned to them and explained to them the situation.

Agent Fowler: "I know, but this incident made Bryce believe that the Autobots have failed to protect you from this threat. Though I don't think it's true since they were on their own planet and trying to save it. But whatever the case, he said that the bots cannot protect you anymore. You are to be taken back to the military base in Illinois where you will be safe. Once your families are relocated to their new homes, we will take you to them and have undercover soldiers scouting the area in case the cons pull another kidnapping."

The team was appalled by the fact that their human friends would no longer be protected by them as Arcee tried to talk him out of it.

Arcee: "Wait! You're going to take the kids away from us after all we've done protecting them? You can't do that! They are still under our care!"

The former Army Ranger turned to the femme Autobot and sighed to himself.

Agent Fowler: "I'm sorry Arcee, but it wasn't my decision, it was the general's. And to make it worse, it's a mandatory order from him. He can't let any innocent civilians die in this war like what happened in Jasper, and these kids have become a potential risk to this war. I'll try to talk Bryce into reversing his decision and see if they can visit you, but I find it highly unlikely. This might very well be the last time you will see each other. I'll let you say your final goodbyes to them before the kids leave. Make it brief."

There was a bit of heartache between the Autobot and the kids as they had no choice but to separate and never see each other again. The kids headed to their own guardians and said their final goodbyes while Fowler headed to one of the jeeps and gave the soldiers some orders in taking the kids to the base. Jack and June headed to Arcee and could tell that she was upset about this the most.

Jack: "Arcee… Are you okay?"

Arcee looked at her partner, and an energon tear came down the side of her cheek. She started to wipe it quick before he would notice it and answered back while kneeling close to their eye level.

Arcee: "I'm fine, partner, it's just that I can't believe this is all happening. One minute we had a strong advantage in ending this war, the next everything went downhill real fast. It's even hard to accept that Optimus is gone. And now you guys have to leave us. It's so hard to swallow in one go."

Jack shook his head and could agree with her.

Jack: "You and me both Arcee. I just can't believe it has to come down to this. But at least we had a good run right?"

The femme chuckled from what he said.

Arcee: "You're right on that occasion, Jack. We had a real good run you and me. Been through some good times and bad. We survived through worse and succeeded in missions everywhere we went. And now this is where we depart. Never thought this would happen."

Jack could tell that she was upset about all of this and she was about to cry. So he did what he had to do. He placed his hand on her metallic knee and rubbed it for comfort. Arcee was a little surprised that he did that, but she felt as ease with his touch. Her partner gave her a reassuring smile and told her everything would be all right.

Jack: "Don't worry Arcee; everything will be okay. Fowler will do all he can to get us back together. It's not going to be like this forever."

Arcee: "I just hope your right Jack. I can't lose another partner due to this war on Earth. Can't imagine life without you."

June heard this and decided to join in on the conversation, making it a little happy.

June: "It will be all right Arcee. If that ever happens, I'll do whatever it takes to get you two back together. Even if it means putting the two of you on Facebook or Twitter."

Arcee turned to the mother and had a pleasant smile on her face.

Arcee: "I'm sure you will June."

The three chuckled on that and were enjoying their short time together. That is when Fowler called them up and told them to go.

Agent Fowler: "Times up you two. Let's go."

The two turned to Fowler and noticed both Raf and Miko outside of the combat jeep waiting for them with silent and sad expressions on their faces. Turning back, they looked on at her and said their farewells.

Jack: "So long Arcee… And please, take care of yourself."

Arcee nodded as she gave the Darby's a warm and heartbreaking hug. It only lasted a few short seconds until she let go of the hug and stood up while the mother and son turned around and headed to the waiting jeep. The femme looked at the two leaving and could feel energon slowly starting to leak in her optics. She had to say goodbye her own way before they were long gone. So she looked at her partner and got his attention.

Arcee: "Uh, Jack?"

Jack stopped when he heard his name and turned to see his friend wanting to tell him something. Arcee put up a pretend grin while hiding the sadness in her spark and asked him about something he remembered.

Arcee: "Remember what I said to you the first time we met?"

The young Darby gave a coy grin and repeated her first lines.

Jack: "Of course I remember. You don't exist. And if I tell anyone about you…

Arcee: "…I will hunt you down"

Jack smiled and gestured to her a simple thank you. Arcee smiled back, but deep down inside her spark, she knew that it would be the last time she sees his smile again. Both June and Jack turned towards the jeep and got in along with the other kids. Fowler decided to remain behind just to make sure the bots get comfortable in their new home. He just hoped that the soldiers would get them to the military base in time before the cons find them. The engines started to turn and the jeep was ready to leave. But before exiting, Jack, Raf, and Miko looked out their windows to see their friends for the last time. The Autobots, the only friends they have left in their lives. For a large number of months they had been through many adventures together, cherished many memories good and bad, and made them feel like they were part of their family. Now, after what they've been through for the past week, they have to be separated from each other, never to be seen again.

The jeep started to move as it drove up the ramp and the view of the Autobots grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer be seen. Ratchet looked on as the jeep containing the kids left the base. Once they disappeared, the medic grunted and went back to work.

Ratchet: "Hmph… Good riddance."

He started to get back into bringing this new base to tip top shape. But when he turned around, he saw Team Prime looking at him, all with angry looks on their faces. He studied each of them and realized that they were upset about something.

Ratchet: "What are you all looking at?"

Arcee was the first to step in as she placed her hands on her hips and asked away.

Arcee: "Let me get this straight Ratchet. You didn't pick the kids up from school while we were away?"

Ratchet's optics were wide as he knew the team wanted an explanation to what happened. He looked at Arcee and said it to her forcefully.

Ratchet: "Do you really think I have time babysitting a bunch of humans, when the fate of Cybertron was in our hands?! Besides, what were all of you thinking, surrendering the keys to Megatron? We had one shot in fixing all of this. ONE SHOT! And yet, you threw it all away to save them! You should've declined Megatron's offer and regenerated the planet, like we were supposed to do."

Arcee: "And let our friends die in the toxic atmosphere of our planet? You expected us to do that?"

Ratchet: "In an effort to save our home and the surviving Cybertronians and end the war that lasted centuries long. Let me guess… YES!"

Now that got the team shocked by what he said. Not only that he didn't pick the kids up from school, he wanted them to let the kids die on their home world while they save it.

That was completely sick! Arcee stared at the medic with the same sour and angry look she had when she found out that it was Starscream who terminated her second partner. So she got close to him and gave him a piece of her processor.

Arcee: "So that's it then huh? That's it?! After all they have done for us, all the risks and sacrifices they did for our cause, you want us to forget about them? They've done everything for us ever since they came into our lives and they made us feel like we were a part of their family. Yet you expect us to restore our planet while they die on it? Can you imagine the guilt we would have if we brought Cybertron back to life, yet our friends won't be around to see it? And what about Jack? Do you think I would want to move on with my life with his death floating around my conscience? I lost two partners during this war. TWO partners! I would never lose Jack over an old veteran's compulsion to come home."

Ratchet: "Oh don't tell me what it's like losing soldiers, young femme! You have no idea what it's like. I've been through many wars long before you were sparked and I lost many soldiers during my prime. This war was the worst of them all. Seeing that many mechs die on operation tables and recovery rooms sickens my spark and the loss of our planet was the worst of them all. Hearing the news that we could restore our planet gave me a glimmer of hope. Now that hope is forever gone and our home-"

Arcee: "Is right here Ratchet! You didn't know it because you spent most of that time in the base. For the past three stellar cycles we've seen amazing places our planet doesn't have while we made great friends with the kids, while you spent most of your life stuck on monitor duty and in the med bay. You never cared about this planet, or its inhabitants, or even the kids to begin with. All you care about is your precious Cybertron and how you wanted to return when it was restored. Well guess what… That choice you made in not taking the kids has cost us EVERYTHING! We now lost a centuries long war, the only chance in restoring our planet is gone, our base is destroyed, Jasper is nothing more than a mere wasteland, and Optimus, the last of the Primes destined to defeat Megatron, has now joined the Well of the All Sparks. Now the Decepticons have a fortress on this planet doing who knows what, while we are stuck in this place underneath Lake Erie hiding from them. Not only that, but Jack, Raf, and Miko have no choice but to be put into protective custody and be relocated to someplace safe, far away from our reach, and they will never see us again. All this because you don't want to do the most basic task we've been doing for months. You're no Autobot Ratchet… What you are is an overly obsessive, selfish, cranky, home sick, sparkless, miserable piece of scrap! Worse yet… You are nothing more than another Megatron…"

Ratchet stepped back at the last remark and couldn't believe what he was hearing. Arcee told him straight to his face that he's another Megatron because he didn't care about this planet and his one decision cost him all they had. Arcee turned around and was about to leave with an angry look still on her face. But when she took a couple of steps, she stopped and peeked at the medic, giving him a little clarity.

Arcee: "Oh and one more thing… It was Optimus that decided to surrender the keys to save the kids. Not us. So you better think about what you say before you jump to conclusions on who's to blame."

She then turned her back to the medic and headed to the hall to pick out her quarters, ultimately putting some distance from him. The other Autobots looked at each other and nodded in agreement, knowing what Arcee said is true. So they followed her to the quarter's room and wanted some time alone with their thoughts. Once they all disappeared, they left Ratchet alone in the main room with Agent Fowler next to him. Fowler heard everything the femme said and now understood how all this happened. That one choice from a medic would ultimately cost them this planet. He then looked back at Ratchet and gave him his own two cents.

Agent Fowler: "I hate to say this Ratchet, but Arcee is right."

Ratchet looked down on his right side when he heard him and wondered what he meant. The agent then went on with his conversation.

Agent Fowler: "I know you must be upset about this whole situation but hear me out. When your kind came to our world, Optimus had promised the world leaders that there wouldn't be any human casualties during their great war. His decision in handing the keys over to the cons to rescue their friends proves it. But now the game has changed and the Decepticons have spilled first blood on our world. And the only person to blame for all of this is the one that made a foolish choice. You. Now I don't blame you for what you did but you should know that every choice has its consequences. I should know… As a former Army Ranger I had to make the difficult decisions when it came to the battlefield. So let me ask you this. What is more important in your war? Your planet or your friends? Think about that for a moment."

Ratchet blinked his optics and realized that he was right. This war that Optimus and the others are going through is all about choice, no matter how difficult it may be, and his choice in not bringing the kids to their base cost them dearly. As he thought about this, he began to ask himself if what he did made him an enemy of his own kind.

* * *

As all of this was going down, something was happening behind the scenes, high on top of a hill overlooking Michigan's highway. Two MECH soldiers were in position keeping close watch on the roads. Since Commander Rourke had given the orders to search for the Director's candidates for his project, every unit was spread out across the country to find them. Mostly disguised as regular civilians, they went around town asking about these people or vehicles that were around. They made some progress here and there but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Finally, after all that searching, they got a tip that all the vehicles and the kids were found by the military and taken to a base in Illinois.

There were many soldiers deployed searching for evidence that these tips were true, while a small outpost headed by Rourke was set up in case the candidates were found. One of the groups was standing idly by looking for anything out of the ordinary. After all that waiting, a soldier with binoculars spotted three combat jeeps coming down the highway. Setting his binoculars to X-Ray vision, he spied four skeletal structures in the middle of the jeep. Curious, he switched to a setting that allowed him to see through metal like something straight out of Superman. That was when he noticed four civilians within the jeep, three of which were in the pre-teen to teen years. Recognizing them from the pictures Rourke showed them, he realized that these were the people the Director was looking for. Not only that, but the Autobots were nowhere near, which made it a perfect opportunity to strike. He removed his binoculars and turned to the other soldier, giving him orders.

MECH Soldier 3: "Get on the horn with the commander. Tell him that we have found the Director's soon-to-be guinea pigs."

* * *

Down on Michigan's highway, three convoys exited the route that took them from Lake Erie and were on the way to a military complex not far from Detroit. The road was hardly crowded, since news of the invasion caused most of the populace to remain in their houses for fear of the alien's attack, so it was smooth sailing for the convoy. In the middle jeep, Jack, Raf, and Miko sat in the back waiting to for their ride to stop, but it wasn't a happy moment for them. Since the news that they could no longer be protected by the Autobots, they had to be put under protective custody and quite possibly relocation with military soldiers disguised as civilians guarding them. To make matters worse, they could no longer be with their friends and had to live normal lives once more.

This had been such a troublesome day for them. First with the loss of Optimus, then with the loss of their hometown, and now this. It had been a quite sad trip for the three and they hadn't talked since they left the base. June noticed it too as she sat next to her son and had to do something to cheer them up. She looked at the three and had a confident smile on her face.

June: "So… Who wants to play a game of I Spy?"

But the kids didn't respond and they were silent doing their own thing. Miko was flipping through pictures on her cell phone, reminiscing about the good old days with Bulkhead. Raf was on his laptop, looking at the toy car that resembled Bumblebee's alt mode. Jack on the other hand, was in deep thought remembering the times he had with Arcee. He looked up to his mother and responded to her question.

Jack: "Mom, do you really think we want to play games after what we've been through?"

June sighed to herself and knew this wouldn't be easy.

June: "I was just trying to make you all feel better Jack. I hate to see the three of you looking so upset."

Jack: "Yeah, well it isn't working. And believe me, it's going to take a long time before things can get back to normal."

There was a bit of silence between the two until Jack spoke up again.

Jack: "Mom, did you know all of this had happened?"

June looked at her son and sighed to herself.

June: "Yes Jack, I knew… Fowler told me everything since the start of the attack up until today."

Jack: "Then why didn't you say anything to me?"

June: "Because Fowler said that it was wise not to tell you. If I did, then I wouldn't be a good mother to you. Besides, I'm not the type of person that would want give out the bad news to everyone."

Jack slouched his shoulders and took a breather.

Jack: "That's very wise of you mom."

Again there was a bit of an awkward silence until Jack spoke up again.

Jack: "Why? Why did all of this happen? Last week everything was normal and in a matter of minutes it all went down the scrapper. Optimus is gone, the cons moved in, our home is no more, and the Autobots have no choice but to hide. I can't believe that it has come to this."

June understood Jack's pain and tried to reassure him that everything would be all right.

June: "I know things have gone downhill for the Autobots but they are still alive thanks to Optimus' sacrifice. I'm sure once things have settled and the heat is off of them, they will try to find a way to fight back. They are still strong in numbers."

Jack turned to his mother and asked about him and his friends.

Jack: "And what about us? What's gonna happen to us? We've been the closest friends with the Autobots since the day we met and helped them out a lot. Now we have to separate from them and pretend that none of it ever happened? All this because the government thinks we're a liability. Do you have any idea how hard that will be? Miko won't have anyone that shares the same tastes as her. Raf will never have someone to talk to. And me? I won't be able to see Arcee again. She's always been the closest friend I ever had, and even though we kind of got off to a rocky start, she and I developed a connection as days passed. Now suddenly things have changed and we have to leave them, probably forever. I can't imagine how Arcee is feeling, now that she's losing another partner."

June listened to him and couldn't help but be filled with motherly compassion. Having Jack and his friends so hurt by the fact that they won't be with the Autobots anymore pained them so much. She tried to comfort him and offered a brighter perspective.

June: "Jack, I'm sure Fowler will try his best to talk to Bryce about reversing his decision. Even if we now have the military protecting us, I don't think they would stand a chance against the Decepticons. He needs to understand that the Autobots are our only hope to stop this invasion. Let's hope the general understands the situation we're all in."

As she was talking, Jack reached into his pocket, looking for something important. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for and took it out. In his hand was a strange looking key with glowing blue/sky-blue circuitry on the inside. What he was holding was actually the Key of Vector Sigma. It was given to him by Optimus Prime before he, the Autobots, and Megatron left to stop Unicron from awakening inside the planet, ultimately destroying it. When Optimus used his Matrix of Leadership to put Unicron to sleep, he lost all of his memories as a Prime and reverted back to being Orion Pax, Iacon librarian. With Optimus taken to the Nemesis to help decode the locations for the Iacon relics, Ratchet knew that the only way to bring Optimus back was to use the Vector Sigma key downloaded with the Matrix of Leadership. After searching for the new Decepticon ground bridge and the location of Vector Sigma itself, Jack downloaded the information necessary to free Optimus and used it to restore his Prime state. Ever since that event, he kept the key for good luck and a memento of Optimus' trust in giving such an important item to him. But now that he's gone and the world changed, it has become the only reminder of the Autobots and the many adventures he had with them. He looked at the key and sighed to himself.

Jack: "I just wish that Optimus was here. He would've had a say in this and let us stay with them. Too bad he's gone now and there's nothing we can do to get back with them. If there was some way we can rejoin our friends, I'll do whatever it takes to get back to them, to Arcee."

June looked over at her son and nodded in agreement. Optimus was the voice of reason for the Autobots and now that voice is gone. She looked out at the window and knew that nothing will ever be the same again. The rest of the trip was quiet as the three convoy jeeps sped down the freeway. But what they didn't know was that trouble was coming to them. As they passed under a bridge, a huge semi came down the ramp and entered the highway. The truck then sped past the three jeeps and moved ahead of them. The convoy then passed another road that enters the highway as five green sport cars came on and positioned themselves behind the escort. The convoy drivers made no notice of these events, that is, until the truck got into same lane as the convoy and slowed down to get close to the first jeep. The driver and passenger saw this and became alarmed.

Soldier 2: "What the Hell…"

It was then that the five cars started to surround the convoy, two on both sides of the jeeps and one behind. Everyone noticed this and wondered what was going on. Just then, the back door of the truck slid up like a garage door revealing a MECH soldier pointing a huge Gatling gun at the jeep. At the same time the sun roofs of the five cars opened up and more MECH soldiers came out pointing rifles at the jeeps. The kids saw this and knew who they were.

Jack: "MECH?"

Miko: "Here?"

Raf: "What are they doing?"

The moment Raf asked that question, the soldier with the Gatling gun fired huge rounds at the front jeep, shattering the glass and killing the driver. The jeep steered out of control and hit the divider between the freeways, crashing on impact and killing the occupants inside. The kids looked on in complete horror and realized what they were doing.

Jack: "Does that answer your question Raf?"

The driver in the second jeep saw this too and realized what's going on.

Soldier 3: "We're under attack! Protect the civilians!"

The two remaining jeeps got into position and prepared for evasive maneuvers. The soldier in the back looked at the kids and June and told them to hold on.

Soldier 4: "You guys better buckle up. It's going to be a rough ride!"

The four nodded and tightened their seatbelts in case things got a little hairy. The soldier then got his rifle out and got out on the rooftop to fire back. The MECH solider in the truck ducked as the armor plating on his body protected him from the barrage of bullet fire. The other men saw this and retaliated back by firing their rifles at him. The soldier ducked down and avoided the barrage, looking at the other soldier in the front and nodded for assistance. The soldier nodded back and rolled the side window down to get out in the open. He got his rifle out and targeted one of the car's engine's to get a clearing. He succeeded as the hood of the car was smoking and the driver of the car lost control, crashing into the highway sound barrier. The soldier yelled out the command.

Soldier 5: "We're in the clear! Move!"

The two jeeps got into the clearing and escaped the blockage of the vehicles. The enemy soldier in the truck got up and fired on the two remaining jeeps while the others followed suit and fired at them too. But it was proving to be difficult as the remaining escort started to get away from them. The Gatling-wielding soldier got on the comm. and told the others to go after them.

MECH Soldier 4: "They're getting away. Stop them! But do not hurt the civilians! The Director wants them alive!"

The four remaining cars went after the two jeeps. The MECH soldiers on the roofs pointed their weapons and fired at the back jeep that was protecting the one in front. The military soldier got out of his roof and fired his rifle back. He managed to place bullet holes in the cars, and killed a MECH soldier out of one the car's rooftops. But it was still too many. Another MECH soldier decided it was time to ramp up the battle. He got down and pressed a button, letting the back seat spin open to reveal a rocket launcher with rockets to the side. He picked it up and loaded a rocket in the weapon. He got up and holding the launcher in place, he used the screen on the side to target the back jeep and locked on. Pulling the trigger, the rocket was launched and tracked the jeep. The soldier stopped firing at the vehicles and looked at the rocket heading towards him. He tried to shoot it down but it was too fast for him. Within seconds, the rocket hit the jeep and it exploded in a ball of flames. Now with two jeeps gone there was just one left, the jeep holding the Director's test subjects. Inside they watched the jeep behind them explode and were scared to death, especially June after her experience when MECH kidnapped her.

June: "This is insane! Why would MECH attack us?!"

Jack looked back at the cars and remembered about what Ratchet said when news that Silas must've made a deal with the cons.

Jack: "My guess, the alliance between MECH and the Decepticons. I'm sure they are trying to capture us so the cons can use us for another ransom, or worse. We have no choice. We need to contact the Autobots for help."

Miko turned to him and was shocked by what he said.

Miko: "What?! Are you serious Jack? We can't call the Autobots! Not with Soundwave tracing our calls."

Jack turned to Miko and told her to try the alternative.

Jack: "Then send them a text! At least Soundwave won't trace that."

Miko blinked her eyes and realized he had a point. Taking out her cell phone, she quickly texted the team to tell them they're in trouble. As that was going on, the last jeep was trying to get away from the MECH vehicles. The military soldiers came out of their cars through the roof and side passenger seat, trying to shoot MECH down as much as they could. But with the cars maneuvering in many directions, it was impossible to get a clear shot. Then the huge semi appeared in the middle, ready to deliver the final blow. The driver of the truck went into position as the remaining cars backed away. The driver accelerated towards the Jeep and the two soldiers could only watch as it headed straight at them. They turned their rifles towards the truck and fired away, hoping to take it down. Unfortunately, the truck's armor protected it from the bullets and the windows were bulletproof as the shots bounced off. The soldiers panicked and got in the jeep to warn the others.

Soldier 4: "Brace yourselves!"

The kids and June held on to something as the truck got closer. In seconds the truck hit the back of the jeep and the impact caused it to swivel out of control. The jeep then hit the wall divider and flipped five times, destroying the outside. Luckily, the jeep's armor cage protected the occupants inside. Once the jeep made the final flip, it lay there wheels down and wrecked. The four cars made a complete stop as the truck parked behind and MECH soldiers jumped out. They surrounded the damaged jeep with weapons ready. As they surrounded it, a helicopter came out of nowhere and began circling the site. The chopper had been observing the whole thing from a safe distance and waited until the last jeep was taken out. It landed on the freeway in front of the jeep as one soldier came out. That soldier was none other than Commander Rourke, the Director's right hand man. He approached the jeep as the soldiers were searching through the wreckage. One by one, they extracted the Autobot's friends, all bruised from the crash. He looked down at each of them and asked whether they made it.

Commander Rourke: "Are they dead?"

One of the soldiers approached the four and checked their vital signs. He then turned to the commander and answered.

MECH Soldier 5: "No sir. They were knocked out in the crash and are unconscious."

Rourke turned to the soldier and nodded in approval.

Commander Rourke: "Good, that makes it easier to move them. Take the four to the chopper and have them strapped down in case they wake up. Don't want them to escape now, do we? Also, make sure we get this cleaned up. I don't want the military knowing that MECH was involved and begin a search. If there are any soldiers that survived this, kill them. I don't want any eyewitnesses."

The soldiers nodded and started to follow his orders. But while half of them were taking the four to the ship and the other half was involved in cleanup, they didn't notice what was inside the jeep. In the wreck was Miko's cell phone, still on even after the crash. It had the half-finished text message that hadn't yet been sent. However, it would be enough for someone to read.

* * *

**There's chapter two. Now I know what you're thinking, why do I want Ratchet to take the blame? Well think about it, he was the one that was so obsessive of going back home. So that obsession made him choose to not pick the kids up and lead to one bad thing after another. Besides, there would be signs of redemption in the future. Now for chapter three, someone found the text in Miko cell while the kids and June are force to take part in the Director's project. What's going to happen next? Well, stay tune for the next chapter. Please review and whatever you do, don't flame me. Don't really like the last review sent to me.**


	3. Death

**Well, got this next chapter posted for reading. Got to admit, this one was a little quickie then I expected. But at least I got this out of the way before I have college to get to in January. And that's where the rest of the chapters will take time. But I will still continue writing and never leave you in the dark. Besides, look at all the responses I got. Got myself 11 reviews and 369 hits and still climbing. Can't wait to see what are the responses from the next chapter. Oh and for those that want to make requests in the future for my one version of Transformers Prime Season 3, I'll be doing it my own way. I mean the Elita One concept seems grand, but I have my own way with her in the coming episodes. Plus I'll try to avoid the whole Beast Hunters thing as well, with the exception of Predaking. I swear once that season premiers, I would be afraid of how they are going to pull this off. Here comes chapter three of this episode ark for Transformers Season 3. When Fowler noticed the damaged jeeps, he discovered clues on what happened to the Autobots friends. Meanwhile, the children and June were taken to MECH to begin the Director's project. What's going to happen to them? You need to see for yourself.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Just to need to get this off my chest before I continue with this chapter. In this chapter I got the idea of turning the four humans to Cybertronians by reading a chapter from TheToonmeister360 on DeviantArt. I had another idea I wanted to do myself, but after reading one of his chapters, I thought it would be the perfect concept for this chapter. Besides, my idea is a little bloodier then his and the last thing I want is to make this story an M rating. Another thing I'm doing is another cameo from two types of media. One is of course on the Transformers Prime episode 'Tunnel Vision' and another is from a cult FPS called Prey. Trust me, you'll know it when you read it. Oh and one more thing, I've decided to try out another format Prodigal the Son mention for a bit. I need to see if could work on a few sections of my story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Three: Death

***static***

_"Welcome back to UFO Hour on the Coast-to-Coast XM. I'm your host, Art Bell. It's been one week since the unknown phenomenon that rocked Jasper, Nevada as well as the entire US. With the news of these strange alien beings that attacked that town, there is major concern within the US government on how to defend their country from these visitors. In addition, the military are still surrounding what was once Jasper and are waiting for further orders. I will update you if there's any news, but so far I'm as curious about these new alien visitors as you all are. I still have my special line for callers who would have tips on our visitors. If you have anything about them, give us a call. The special number is-"_ ***static*** _"Let's get to the special line and see who's calling. Hello caller. You are on the air with Art Bell."_

_"Hello? Is this Art Bell?"_

_"Yes caller. This is Art Bell. Who's calling please?"_

_"Oh, finally! I've been trying to call you for days! Thank god I got a hold of you!"_

_"Yes. Well… I always get that reaction to people that are trying to call me. What's your name, caller."_

_"The name's Mogel, but you can call me Vogel."_

_"And where are you from, Vogel."_

_"I live in the Big Apple itself. I work as a sweeper train operator within New York's own subway system."_

_"So can you tell us about these visitors that appeared last week, Mr. Vogel?"_

_"Tell you? Bell, I was an eyewitness to it all."_

_"Excuse me, Vogel? Did you just say that you were an eyewitness?"_

_"Absolutely!"_

_"Then tell us. What did you see? What these visitors look like? The viewers need to know."_

_"Well, it's a little hard to explain. I was working in the tunnels, making sure everything is in tip top shape when I met these strange kids."_

_"Kids you say?"_

_"Yeah. They say that they were in a field trip and were on a tour of the tunnels. I found that to be a bit suspicious because I never heard of any tours in the tunnels. But being the good Samaritan that I am, I took em' to my train car and showed them the tunnels myself. I showed them the place, told them stories about creatures in the tunnels, hell I even told them that there were aliens in the tunnels personally. Boy how right I was."_

_"And what does that have to do with you seeing the visitors."_

_"Well I was getting to that. So anyways, as I was telling them these stories, they disappeared on me and went on their own again. The moment I caught up to them, I knew that they weren't on a tour and asked what they were really doing. That's when they told me that they were helping some aliens looking for some kind of relic and they work for some kind of government. My suspicions were right when I heard some unauthorized digging in one of the tunnels. So I took the kids and we went to investigate that tunnel. That's when I saw them."_

_"By them you mean the aliens right?"_

_"That's correct."_

_"So tell us Vogel, what were these visitors like? Are they friendly or hostile?"_

_"That's a little hard to tell. See, they weren't like those little green men you see on the TV, let me tell you. No these aliens are really different. They were made completely out of metal, from head to toe and they look very humanoid. But here's the cool thing about them. See these aliens can actually change into vehicles to blend in to their environment. This one alien that looked female for example turned into a motorcycle and drove past my sweeper. Then there was one that can turn itself into some kind of bug, like a blue beetle or something."_

_"So you're saying that these aliens are some kind of shape shifters or something?"_

_"Not shape shifters Bell, they were like alien robots. You know, like those bots you see in those Japanese cartoon shows. I think they were more like transformers than shape shifters. Anyways they saved mine and the kids' lives and they stopped these bad transformers from taking this relic they were searching for. Hell, I was deputized as the deputy of interstellar relations by their commanding officer. Though I have to stay away from parked cars. Trust me, the thought of these transformers disguised as vehicles give me the creeps."_

_"Interesting… So tell us Vogel, does your encounter with these visitors, these Transformers you call them, have something to do with the strange occurrence that happened in Jasper?"_

_"110% Art. I don't know much about these visitors, but from what I can tell is that they must've been at war for a long time. The structure that appeared in the desert has to be connected to what I saw in the tunnels."_

_"And you think that the good Transformers put that structure there, or the bad Transformers."_

_"My possible guess is that the bad Transformers are responsible for this. I mean think about it. This light appeared out of nowhere and this new city rose from the planet and then immediately after that the town that was close to it was under attack. It's strongly obvious that these are the bad kind that wants to conquer this planet and enslave us."_

_"And you didn't tell anyone about this since your first encounter?"_

_"Well as deputy of interstellar relations I've been given clear orders to maintain complete radio silence until I am called upon. But when the attack in Jasper happened last week I have to tell the world about this. And what better way to tell everyone than in your radio show right?"_

_"One more question before we cut to a break Vogel. Do you really think that the good Transformers will stop the bad ones?"_

_"Hell yeah they will stop them. They saved my life in the tunnels right? No way would they let the bad ones take over this planet and get away with it."_

_"There you have it folks! You heard it first on this show! These visitors or robots in disguise who call themselves the Transformers and the unexplained phenomenon are the bad Transformers taking over this planet. Will the good ones triumph over evil? Only time will tell. Thank you Vogel for giving us your experience with these beings."_

_"Not a problem Bell. You know I'm a big fan of your show."_

_"We'll be right back for more-"_

**-click-**

Soldier 1: "Hey! I was listening to that!"

Fowler turned off the radio and looked at the driver.

Agent Fowler: "Sorry soldier, but I can't take that garbage anymore."

Soldier 1: "You call that garbage? Art Bell and his UFO Hour is the best thing on satellite radio. His inside in the alien conspiracy is pretty top notch and always gives interesting details. And now with the cons invading us and all, he's getting pretty popular. We should listen to his show to see if there are any updates as to what is happening in Nevada."

Fowler: "That Bell is nothing but an opportunist who is using this invasion to boost his ratings. Nothing more than that. I don't understand why they still want him to do this show."

An hour or so later, Fowler was in the main jeep as the rest of the convoy left the Autobot's new base. The jeeps were on the way to the military complex, while the semi's that had carried the Autobots were refueling at a nearby gas station before they could depart. Fowler was watching through the front window and noticed that everything looked so quiet. He could only see a few cars whizzing by, but nothing else. Who would've thought that when the Decepticons decided to show up and change the war this could happen? People were either staying at home fearing the worst, while others decided to get away from big cities assuming that cons would attack there. And to think this all happened from last week's events.

When he got the Autobots and their human friends to the new base underneath Lake Erie, he had to tell them what happened while they were separated. The results were both shocking and heartbreaking. First, he told them what happened to their old base and the fact the Optimus died while trying to prevent the cons from finding them. Then he had to tell them about Jasper being under attack, killing the people while they were in the middle of an evacuation, which made the kids even more upset. Not to mention the fact that the cons set up a barrier around New Kaon to prevent any counter attack from them. And to add insult to injury, he had to tell the Autobots that the children needed to be put under protective custody and relocation, meaning that they won't see the bots again. It was really hard for them to take, being that they had been friends for such a long time. He could imagine how they would feel in the coming weeks. He had seen it before in other soldiers, be it depression, loneliness, or abandonment.

Not only that, but he heard what had happened before the cons decided to move to Earth. From what he could piece together was that the Autobots were going to restore Cybertron by using the Omega Keys and the Omega Lock. They've been through many trials and surprises, but they finally managed to get the keys, and were about to use the lock to bring their planet back to life. Unfortunately, Megatron and the cons abducted the children, setting them up for ransom. If the Autobots surrendered the keys, they would get the kids back, if not, they would be left to die in the toxic air of their planet. So they did the only thing they could do, turn over the keys to save their friends. And that one choice led to the whole debacle on Earth.

And, the reason why all of this happened in the first place was because of a certain bot medic named Ratchet. He was so obsessed with the mission of restoring Cybertron that he couldn't be bothered with picking up the kids from school. For an old veteran Autobot like him, he should have remembered that the lives of all beings, and that means the kids, are more important than the restoration of a planet. And now after all of this mess has started, every bot blames the medic for screwing that one thing up.

But Fowler can't find it in his heart to blame him for that. He was an old mech who missed his home planet Cybertron for so many years; it was heart wrenching for him, and now, the only way to bring it back is forever gone. Ratchet needs to understand that there's more to this war than Cybertron, and that's the safety of Earth. He's sure that Ratchet will find a way to learn this lesson, but first he has to accept responsibility for what he has done.

As the three jeeps were driving, something caught Fowler's eyes and pointed to it.

Agent Fowler: "Hey, what's that?"

The soldier driving looked down the highway and noticed that something was up. In the distance was some kind of blockage with police cars and flares blocking the path. There was a detour sign ahead to divert cars coming down the road. The driver looked at it and wondered about it too.

Soldier 1: "I don't know, sir… Looks like a blockade of some kind. But why it's blocking our way to the complex, I have no idea."

The agent frowned and decided to see for himself.

Agent Fowler: "Well only one way to find out. Park the jeeps."

So the three jeeps slowed to a stop and parked at the side of the divider for the other cars to pass. Once they were close to the blockade, Fowler got out with the lead soldier and approached the blockade. The chief of police saw them coming and stopped them before they could enter.

Chief of Police: "Halt! No one goes in here without identification."

Fowler nodded and took his badge out to show his ID. He then started to introduce himself.

Agent Fowler: "I'm special agent William Fowler of the United States government. Mind telling me what is going on here?"

The police officer looked at his badge and realized it was legitimate, so he looked back and apologized.

Chief of Police: I'm sorry, sir. Didn't know you were with the government. But since you're here then perhaps you can help us with the investigation. Please, follow me.

The police chief turned and started walking to the scene of the accident. Fowler looked at the soldier and told him to wait.

Agent Fowler: "Stay here while I check to see what's going on."

The soldier nodded as the agent walked through the barricade to investigate the situation. As they were walking, Fowler noticed something that caught him off guard. He saw one of the convoy jeeps that had been used to escort the Autobots. It was destroyed in some kind of crash, and the coroner and his crew were carrying several body bags. It was a sickening sight, and he wondered what caused it. He turned to the chief and asked about it.

Agent Fowler: "So, care to tell me what happened here?"

The police officer turned and explained everything thoroughly.

Chief of Police: "Don't know. We got a 911 call from a pedestrian who was walking along this highway. He witnessed the beginnings of some kind of shoot out chase on the opposite side. It's hard to tell, but he gave us a clear description of the vehicles. From what we can piece together from his account and reconstructing the crash, three military jeeps similar to yours where under attack by a huge semi truck and five green sports cars. By the time we got here, there was ample evidence of some heavy crashes, along with gun shell casings scattered about. The first jeep looked like its front window was blown out killing the driver, which sent it crashing into the divider. The second one looked like it was blown up in a ball of flames, killing the occupants inside. The third one however was in much worse shape. By the looks of it, the semi that was part of the attack hit the jeep in the back with full force, sending it rolling a couple of times before it stopped. Pretty much a big mess. And to think, this is all happened, one week since the Jasper, Nevada incident."

Fowler listened and realized that these jeeps were the ones that were taking the Autobot's friends to the base in Illinois. Concerned, he asked the chief of police something else.

Agent Fowler: "Any survivors?"

The police chief sighed and answered.

Chief of Police: "Afraid not. No one could have survived that attack. We checked each jeep and all the dead soldiers have been accounted for. Shame we didn't get an eyewitness to all of this," gesturing towards the wreckage.

Fowler heard that and worried whether the kids were part of the casualty list. But he knew he had to keep a calm, unemotional demeanor.

Agent Fowler: "What about the evidence? Anything worth salvaging?"

Chief of Police: "Well, there are some things that were left behind in the attack. Perhaps you would like to see them for yourself."

Fowler looked at him and nodded to see this evidence. The two headed to a small tent where it was being kept. Upon entering, the chief of police took him to a table.

Chief of Police: "Most of the evidence we collected were nothing more than gun shells scattered about, but there were three objects that had been left behind in the third damaged jeep. See for yourself."

Fowler looked at the table and saw three different objects resting on the table. Taking a closer look, he recognized each of them. One was a laptop with a cracked screen and a few missing keys. The second was a neon pink cell phone that had a few scratches from the crash. But in the middle of the table was a futuristic key with circuitry on the inside. Fowler knew to whom they belonged. Not to mention that the middle key was the Key of Vector Sigma, given to Jack for protection. Looking at them, he sighed and could tell that things were worse than he feared. The police chief looked at him with concern and asked about the objects.

Chief of Police: "Do you know anything about these objects?"

The agent looked back at him and told him truthfully.

Agent Fowler: "Indeed I do. These objects belonged to some interns that were working with me for the agency. They were being escorted to the base in Illinois for protection since the incident last week. Haven't heard from the convoy since they left. Tell me, were there four civilians in one of the jeeps?"

The police chief thought this through and told him what he and his other officers found.

Chief of Police: "No, sir. We cleared those jeeps and there were no civilians present in any of them. Just dead soldiers…"

Fowler nodded and remained calm and collected. Looking back at the three items, he asked for privacy.

Agent Fowler: "I need to be alone for a moment."

The officer granted the agent's request.

Chief of Police: "Understood, Agent Fowler. Let me know when you're finished here."

He then exited the tent and left the agent alone with the three items that once belonged to the kids. Looking through the evidence, a lot of thoughts were in his head. He was glad that the kids and June survived this attack, but what happened to them? Did they escape? Were they captured? Did the cons do this or someone else? Thinking this through, he noticed a blinking light on Miko's cell phone. Curious, he picked it up and opened the lid to activate the menu option. Skimming through the options he noticed a text message that was auto saved but not sent. He clicked on the stored text and read its contents. What he saw was completely shocking. It read…

_'Autobots! Help! We're under attack! It's MECH! They're trying to capture us! We need_'_

The message stopped there. After looking through the message again, the realization soon hit him. MECH was back, and they have taken the Autobot's friends. Closing the phone, Fowler knew that it was really bad.

Agent: "Sweet Lincoln… The Autobots are not going to be happy about this."

* * *

It's been hours since the attack and Jack didn't know what happened. One minute they were on the way to the military base in Illinois, the next they were under attack by MECH. He then asked Miko to send a text to the Autobots to see if they can help them. Sure it was a serious risk for them to leave the base and get their energon signature exposed, but they wouldn't stand by while their human friends got hurt. Just before she could finish and send the text, the truck hit them in the back and sent the jeep spinning and flipping out of control. And then after that… nothing… Just plain darkness… What happened to him? Where are his friends? Where's his mother? Are they dead? Is he dead?! Is this the afterlife? Those were the many questions that he had swirling in his head. Just as he was thinking about that, he heard voices from a distance. They were soft at first, but then got louder by the second. And then, he started to see murky, blurry images. The images started to clear up as his eyes began refocusing. As he regained consciousness, Jack could tell that he was alive and well. But then he began to wonder where he was. When he got up, his head hit a glass wall of some kind. Rubbing it, he blinked his eyes and soon realized where he was. He was in some kind of a glass container, similar to the ones the Decepticons used to keep them prison and hold them for ransom. But these were different, almost man-made. Looking up, he noticed that his glass tube was hooked in to some kind of a strange machine with a huge tank in the back. Becoming more curious as to where he was, he looked left and right and noticed other glass containers between him. What shocked him the most was that in the containers were his mom and friends. June was to his left, while Raf and Miko were on his right. All three were still unconscious, with cuts and bruises on their bodies and torn and bloody clothes from the crash. The left lens of Rafael's glasses was cracked. Figuring they were all trapped in the same glass containers as his, he wanted to wake them up quickly before something bad happened to them. So he turned to each of them and yelled.

Jack: "Mom? Guys? Are you all right? Wake up!"

Luckily, they were regaining consciousness, as the three slowly started to stir. The moment they opened their eyes, they also realized the situation they were in. Miko's only response was to kick the glass in frustration, and let out a heavy groan.

Miko: "Ah man! Not this again!"

June was as panicked as any of them and tried desperately to bang on the glass. She then looked at her son and wanted some answers.

June: "Jack? What's going on here? Where are we? How did we get in these tubes?"

Jack was trying to be calm as he tried to get mom under control.

Jack: "I really don't know mom. But don't worry, I'll find a way out of here."

Just as he said that, he heard a very strange southern voice from in front of him.

Director: "Oh I don't think that's the least of your worries, boy."

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to the front to see who talked. What they saw were three individuals they had never seen before. The one on the left was a big military man with a gray V line haircut and a brace on his leg. The one on the right was a scientist with a pot belly and spike hair with a white streak. And the one in the middle was a mysterious man, tall and lean with glasses on his darkened face, hiding his identity. Behind them was a huge computer-like console with many small screens, and one huge screen in the middle with the MECH logo on it. Also behind the three were other scientists sitting at terminals and working. And to top it off, there was a single MECH soldier behind a video camera on a tripod, recording the four trapped in the glass containers. Jack looked at all of this and blinked his eyes in surprise, having a lot of questions in his head. Who were these people? What are they doing to them? Have they been watching his mom, friends, and himself the whole time? It was hard to tell judging by the situation they were in. So he looked the one in the middle who had started to speak and had a poisonous sound in his voice.

Jack: "MECH… Why am I not surprised? Who are you and what do you want with us?"

There was a bit of silence within the room as the man in the middle looked at each of them and was intrigued by the question and the tone of Jack's voice.

Director: "Ah… Jackson and June Darby, Rafael Jorge Gonzales Esquivel, and Miko Nakadai. It's a pleasure to finally meet you all."

The four looked at each other and were shocked that he knew them.

Jack: "Wait… You knew about us?"

This mysterious man looked right at Jack and chuckled.

Director: "Oh but of course. My men have been watching you for quite some time ever since your mother's kidnapping. Wasn't an easy feat where each of you lived, but we had all the information we needed about you, and your special friends. But where are my manners? I should've let you know who I am and where you are. So allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Science Division of MECH. You will refer to me as The Director."

Miko crossed her arms and found his name to be very amusing. Taking a mocking tone, she laughed,

Miko: "The Director? That's very original…"

The Director turned to the Japanese teen and responded back.

Director: "It suits me Ms. Nakadai. I suggest that you don't insult me with your jokes. This here is my right hand man, Commander Rourke. And here is the head scientist that has made my vision a reality, Professor Isaac Sumdac. Introductions made."

There was still concern in their faces as Raf tried to get to the task at hand. Wanting to know what this Director wanted with them.

Raf: "What do you want with us? If you're trying to extract Intel on us so you can hand us to the Decepticons, we won't tell you anything."

The Director looked at the young boy and had a quizzical look on his face.

Director: "Decepticons?"

Miko: "Yeah! Silas made a deal with Megatron and made an alliance with MECH. If you think we're going to give you anything we know about our friends so you can talk to your Deceptifriends, you've got another think coming!"

The Director shook his head and couldn't help but to chuckle at what she said.

The Director: "A MECH/Decepticon alliance? Is that what you really think? I'm sorry, but I don't think there was any alliance between the cons and us. Cause the last time I checked, I didn't see any transforming robots around here."

Jack heard that and realized what he was trying to say.

Jack: "You mean there was no alliance? But Fowler told us that Silas was with Breakdown, and Ratchet believed there was one."

The Director looked at Jack and explained to him what really happened.

Director: "Indeed that Silas made a deal with these Decepticons to form an alliance, but it wasn't with MECH. It was with himself."

The young Darby looked at him and was interested with what he was saying.

Jack: "What do you mean?"

This Director smirked as a few windows popped up showing Silas's project from schematic to video feeds. He started to explain what happened to him.

Director: "I do believe you were fully aware of Silas's once latest work, Project Chimera. You see, he perfected his work and was close to a breakthrough. Unfortunately, one little slipup cost him everything he worked for, including his life. Although he did survive the crash, his body was mangled and close to death's doorstep. His men decided to save his life by implanting his body with that of a dead robot they discovered. Breakdown was it? Anyways, the operation was successful and Silas managed to live another day. But after being brought back to life, Silas believed that he wanted to be one with the gods. So he… Well… Why don't I show you what happened?"

Just then another video came up and showed a recording from one of the soldier's head cams. The small camera belonged to Private Jenkins. When it started to play, the four looked on to see what appeared to be Breakdown, but he looked like some kind of Frankenstein experiment. At first they thought it was Breakdown, but the voice belonged to Silas.

Silas: _"Thank you all for all your dedication and lifetime of service. But I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company of Titans."_

The Silas with the body of Breakdown activated his cannon and did the most unimaginable thing. He targeted his own men and fired on them. The rest of the video was a little hard to watch as Silas destroyed everything in the building and killed his own men. Almost immediately the screen went static and the video feed ended. The four were horrified at what they saw and couldn't believe any of it.

Raf: "Silas killed his own men? He betrayed them?"

The Director looked at the video and shook his head.

Director: "It's a pity really. His men did all they could to save him and what did they get? A stab in the back! Silas's betrayal had dealt a heavy blow to our cause and proved that he never cared about our industry. So, effective immediately, he is no longer a part of MECH. But, that's all in the past. Now, MECH is focused on the future. I am the future."

He turned to the four prisoners and had a very devious look to him. Jack stared right back at him and could tell they were in trouble. But still, he had no idea why this Director would abduct them to begin with.

Jack: "You still haven't answered my question yet. If you didn't take us to hand us over to the Decepticons, then why are we here?"

The head of MECH's science division looked at the boy and sighed.

Director: "Why is it that the young are always the curious?"

He turned to the Commander and asked about their condition from the crash.

Director: "Commander, are these people prepped for the experiment?"

Rourke looked at the Director and answered.

Commander Rourke: "The medical team examined them and said that they were banged up from the crash. But they passed the examination and are ready for the procedure."

Sumdac looked at the four and had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned to his boss and expressed reservations.

Professor Sumdac: "I don't know if it's wise using these four as test subjects, Director."

He turned to the professor and reassured him that everything would be all right.

Director: "Professor Sumdac, I can't test our latest work by sacrificing my own men. Civilian test subjects are the perfect choice for something like this."

As the conversation continued, the four overheard them and didn't like any of it.

June: "Experiment?"

Jack: "Procedure?"

Raf: "Test subjects?"

Miko: "Why do I get the feeling that we don't like the sound of any of this?"

Jack was now extremely worried and tried to get the Director's attention.

Jack: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by any of that?"

The Director turned to Jack and could tell that he wanted some answers.

Director: "I see you still want to know your fate, Mr. Darby. Very well, I'll tell you. You see, Silas's Project Chimera had proven so much for our cause. Our technology, combined with the alien's biology had proven to be quite an effective weapon. Unfortunately for him, he failed to accomplish one thing. For even though he created the body of their kind…"

Raf: "He didn't create the soul of one."

He looked at the young boy and smiled at his answer.

Director: "Quite perceptive of you Mr. Esquivel! Quite perceptive indeed. You see, although Silas understood the Cybertronian's structure and inner workings, he failed to grasp the understanding of their soul. All he created was a lifeless, mindless, soulless machine without any thought or feelings. Such a shame that it was laid to waste. But what he lost, I gained. With him gone, I now have possession of all the research Silas made since he discovered this alien race. What I discovered is that they are sort of like us. Aside from the few variations we lack, we have such strong similarities, from genders, to what keeps us alive. After studying his research, I have found a way to create the perfect robotic soldier, both inside, and out. And you four, are going to help me make that possible."

Jack just heard every word he said and was getting uncomfortable with his words.

Jack: "What does it have to do with us?"

The Director turned to him and asked him something.

Director: "Have you ever gone to a science class Mr. Darby? Did they teach you about the metamorphosis of a butterfly, starting from a caterpillar to a cocoon, all the way to the final product? With the help of Professor Sumdac here, we have created the ultimate invention that is similar to the butterfly's lifecycle. Allow me to introduce you all to: Project Metamorphosis."

The second he said that, all the lights in the room went on and the four were temporarily blinded by it. When they got their vision back, they looked around and were shocked by what they saw. They were in a huge room, big enough for a robot to fit in. On the left, they saw large multiple berths, with wheels that can be moved remotely and a humanoid mold at the top. Above the berths were crane like arms meant to hold some kind of object. There was another command console next to the tanker with many laser-guided arms used for something important. When they looked up, they got a clear view of the huge tanker right behind them. They were a little overwhelmed by all of this. But the Director looked at all of this and was satisfied by what he did.

Director: "Marvelous, don't you agree?"

But Jack didn't like this as he turned to him and snapped.

Jack: "What is all of this?!"

The head of the science division turned to Jack and could tell he's still confused.

Director: "Guess I went a little too far in my presentation. Let me explain it. See, by looking into Silas's research, I knew that what he was missing was to make his robot like that of a human, filled with feelings and emotions. This project is capable of fixing that problem. In short, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, all of this will turn a human into the kind that MECH has been interested in for some time."

There was a brief silence until Miko looked at this person and was a little confused.

Miko: "And what it that supposed to mean?"

Raf heard this too and tried to piece it all together. After gathering the information, the realization hit him as he turned to Miko for the answer.

Raf: "Don't you get it Miko? He said that all of this is used to turn humans into Cybertronians."

He then made one big gulp and realized what they were in for.

Raf: "And we're the first in line to take part in this."

The Darby's looked at Raf, shocked by this turn of events.

Jack: "What?!"

June then turned to the Director and was disgusted by this.

June: "You can't turn humans into Cybertronians! That's freaking impossible!"

The Director peeked at June's tube and responded in a calming voice.

Director: "Is it Mrs. Darby? For a nurse that understands biology, I could imagine why you never studied Cybertronian anatomy. Though I can't turn the four of you directly, I do know a way of doing it step by step. But perhaps a little presentation would be in order."

He walked away from Rourke and Sumdac and headed to what appeared to be a table with a wine glass and a metallic gray canister. The four looked at him and wondered what he was up to. When he approached the table, he picked up the canister and slowly opened the lid. Once it was fully opened, he looked at the four and asked them a quick question.

Director: "Tell me my friends; can you guess what this is?"

He started to lift the container over the wine glass and poured it in. What came out of the container was a strange light blue liquid with a low glow to it. Looking at this liquid, Jack knew what it was.

Jack: "Uh guys? That's energon."

The Director chuckled as he lifted the wine glass filled with the liquid and examined it.

Director: "Quite right, my dear boy. Energon. From what Silas added to one of his reports was that energon is the Cybertronian equivalent of human blood, and can be used for fuel, ammunition, and medicine. But what I've discovered is that this energon is actually the basic building blocks for creating these alien beings."

As he said that, there was a data and video window popping up in the main screen showing information about Energon. The four prisoners looked at the screen and were intrigued by what this new MECH leader was talking about. This Director spun the glass and looked at them, explaining what he discovered.

Director: "Upon closer examination, I discovered that this energon has its own molecular structure, its own genetic code if you will. If I were able to alter that type of code, I could create the robotic soldiers needed to change history as we know it. The only problem is that the code is bland, impossible to alter. But there is an alternative solution."

Jack swallowed a lump in his throat and didn't like the sound of it.

Jack: "Alternative solution?"

Suddenly, the machine they were in started to hum to life as compartments behind and above them opened up. They didn't know that the scientists at the main computer had started to work on this project until it was too late. Red beams then came out and slowly started to scan them. The Director placed the glass on the table and headed back to the main console, explaining to them what they were in for.

Director: "You see this substance, like any other substance, is mostly made out of water. And believe it or not, the human body contains 35 liters of water along with some other saline fluids. The perfect opportunity to test out the first phase of my project, the caterpillar stage if you will."

Once the red lasers finished scanning, four 3D images of Jack, June, Raf, and Miko appeared, with windows showing their status. It currently read: _'Human 100%; Energon 0%'_. The four were confused by it all, but got the sickening feeling they were not going to like it. The Director turned to the four and finished with what he was saying.

Director: "That huge tanker attached to your containers contains around 50,000 gallons of Energon, enough to create a huge army. It wasn't easy searching for untapped mines holding that much energon, but we were successful regardless. Once you all have been converged, we can use your genetic code to make some alterations. Making you more like your friends, if you will."

Jack heard all of this and wondered what he meant by '_converged'_. But then it hit him. The energon, the containers, and this '_first stage'_ he was talking about. He suddenly realized what he was going to do to them.

Jack: "You're going to turn us into energon?!"

His deduction caused everyone to look at him and all were shocked.

Raf: "What?"

June: "Is he serious?"

The Director then turned to the nurse and gave her a brief statement.

Director: "Indeed I am serious Mrs. Darby. In order for me to create new life, I need to destroy the old. Sometimes success requires sacrifice, including human lives."

Miko turned back to the Director and had a disgusted look on her face.

Miko: "Dude, that's sick!"

The Director turned to her and responded.

Director: "Is that so? Well I'm not a sick man, girl. What I am is an innovator, trying to change history every second. This latest work will prove to the world that MECH is a dominating force. And what better way to test Project Metamorphosis than with the help of the Autobots' friends. You should feel lucky; you are going to take part in this wondrous event."

He turned to one of the scientists and gave a nod to begin. The scientist nodded back and pushed a button on the console. The four then heard a humming noise from behind and knew that the machine was distributing energon into their tubes. They heard compartments opening at the bottom of their tubes and looked down to see what was coming. What they saw was energon pooling around their feet and slowly rising. The glowing pool rose up to their knees, then their waist, then their chests, until they were swimming in the goo. Fear was accelerating in their hearts as the energon pool was filling the tube and their heads almost hit the ceiling. The Director looked on and was smiling at their predicament. He turned his back to them and headed to the console to complete the job.

Director: "I should let you know that you won't be able to experience the rest of my project, given the condition you will soon be in. So whether this succeeds or fails, I would like to thank you for taking part in my grand achievement."

As he approached the console, he looked at the one key that completes this first stage of his project. Before he could press it, Miko decided to pull a last ditch effort and threatened this new leader.

Miko: "You are going to be so sorry for this, four eyes! When the Autobots rescue us, they are going to teach you a lesson!"

There was a short silence in the room as the Director listened to the girl's useless threat.

Director: "The Autobots? Rescue you?"

There was a small laugh from this threat and he turned back to them with a deep glare and a devious smile.

Director: "I'm counting on it…"

With that said, he pushed the button and watched the conversion for himself. The four tubes had electrical prods on the top and bottom and they started to glow brightly. Instantly, the four were shocked by multiple volts of electricity, each successive shock stronger than the last. June, Raf, and Miko screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through their body and the energon glowed brighter from the volts. But Jack kept his mouth shut as the pain spread through him, looking at this Director that's trying to kill them. The pain was excruciating as he could feel his body tingling. He peeked at the screen and watched as the percent counters kept changing, as the human percent was decreasing and the energon count was increasing. Glancing down at his hand, he noticed that it had started to denucleate itself and was looking soft and melting like ice cream. Seeing this, he knew what was happening. Their bodies were dissolving into the gooey liquid and all they could do was watch their lives melt away. The Director and others watched the procedure closely and didn't flinch from the show. But Sumdac just turned his head away and was sickened by the whole thing. For seconds, the four prisoners could feel their bodies melting, their inner organs liquefying, and their DNA breaking apart. Their thoughts were getting incredibly fuzzy and they were slipping in and out of consciousness. Jack was horrified as his friends and mother were merging with the energon and vanishing away. He looked back at the Director, as the last image he saw before he slipped into an unconscious state was MECH enjoying the show. It was then that the only thought that was in his head before he sank into a vegetative state was…

Jack: _"Arcee… I'm sorry… I… Love… You…"_

Jack then slipped away as he and the others sank into the energon substance. As the process finished, steam came out of each tube and enveloped the entire machine, blocking MECH's view. The Director watched intently as he gestured to one of the scientists.

Director: "Drain the tubes."

The scientist nodded and pressed another button, as the liquid where the captors once were began moving through thin pipes. The Director headed toward the end of the machine on the left while Rourke and Sumdac followed behind. They waited until a compartment on the side opened up and a tray came out. What they saw was remarkable, and the professor was in complete awe.

Professor Sumdac: "My god…"

But the Director looked at this and was pleased with his success.

Director: "Phase 1 is complete. Prepare for Phase 2."

Commander Rourke: "Right away sir."

Right there on the tray, were four energon cubes with different colors. June's cube was red, Raf's cube was orange brown, Miko's cube was pinkish purple, and Jack's was light blue. In a matter of moments, the Director's project had already begun to bear fruit. For what was once the Autobots' four human friends were now four lifeless energon cubes.

* * *

**That finishes chapter three. Was a little short yes, but at least I didn't add more to it. Now I know what you all are thinking, so I'll make this brief. No! Jack, Raf, Miko, and June are not dead. I would wish to explain it some more but then it would spoil the next chapter. And trust me, there will be some shock and awe once I post that one up. I'll leave you guessing to see what's to come. Until then, Please Review.**


	4. Rebirth

**Another great chapter is at the ready. Now to tell you the truth, I never thought that this story would be completely popular. All the stories I did in the past didn't have much of an impact as this one and I was unguarded by this. I mean look at the stats from the last chapter. I have twenty-three reviews, probably more since most of them are guest reviews, and a hit counter that's 542 hits. I was amazed by all of this and appreciate your positive responses. Though I have issues with other reviewers, mostly involving ones that said Guests. There's someone that is using the same guest account that's asking me too many questions on what will happen with the Autobots, the kids, the Decepticons, or Optimus. Not to mention that there's one guest reviewer that didn't give me responses, just a jumble of letters that didn't make a lick of sense. I can understand I wanted review for my story, but I don't want to see reviews that didn't look like reviews at all. So please, don't give me those types of reviews. Oh and for those of you who are asking questions about what going to happen to others like Optimus and other requests, I'm keeping that quiet for future stories. I'll just let you know that you would see the Cons, Megatron, and Optimus in the near future, but not in this story. But trust me, you would be in for a really good surprise at the end of this episode. But again, not going to tell you. Here's the fourth chapter of my own third season. After hearing the news that their friends have been taken by MECH, the Autobots try to find a way in rescuing them. Meanwhile, the Director continues his experiment with Jack, Raf, Miko, and June. What would become of them? Read to see for yourself.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

**Chapter Four: Rebirth**

* * *

_Agent Fowler,_

_I got word from one of the soldiers that were part of transferring the Autobots to their new base that the small convoy escorting your former interns was attacked and the four civilians were kidnapped. Not only that but I have learned that the culprits involved in the kidnapping was MECH? How could that be possible? MECH was supposed to be disbanded since Silas was disposed of. How is it possible that they are still operating after the fall of their leader? It's bad enough that we have these Decepticons having their own fortress in Nevada, but now the return of MECH complicates things!_

_I cannot let MECH take civilians, Fowler. With the casualty count from the invasion of Jasper, I can't risk any more innocent lives. I've taken the liberty of sending more search squads to find the base of operations where they're holding the children. It's going to be a long haul being that they could be anywhere. As for the Autobots, they are to remain in their new base at all times. No exceptions! I can't have them getting out there searching for these people when the cons are hunting them down. Make sure they don't leave your sights. You got me? Fix this mess up or I will._

_Sincerely,  
General Bryce_

* * *

Back at the new Autobot's base underneath Lake Erie, Fowler had returned to deliver the bad news. He'd already told the rest of the convoy to hurry back to base to deliver the message to Bryce that MECH has returned and they had taken the children and June. He took one of the jeeps and hurried back to the Autobots to tell them personally. He's still liaison to these mechanical beings; so it's best they hear it from him. The moment he got back, he told Ratchet to bring everyone in as quickly as he could. Once everyone gathered around Fowler, he began to tell them what happened.

Agent Fowler: "Around 1600 hours, a small convoy that was taking your friends fell under attack."

The moment he said that, every bot looked at each other and were shocked by the news. Ratchet turned to him and wanted to know more.

Ratchet: "Attack? How did that happen?"

Fowler turned to the medic and explained it in detail.

Agent Fowler: "There was a police report that said an eyewitness saw the convoy getting attacked. Don't know much else, but what I do know is that the vehicles involved included a big semi truck and five sports cars. Nothing else. Whatever firepower they had destroyed the three jeeps and killed all the soldiers. None survived."

Arcee: "And the children? What happened to them?"

The agent looked up at Arcee and could tell that she was worried sick. He then sighed and told them about it.

Agent Fowler: "From what I could gather, they managed to survive the attack. Unfortunately they weren't found in any of the jeeps, and there were no signs of footprints around the crash site. So to put it simply, I have reason to believe that the kids and June were kidnapped."

Now that got the Autobots attention! The group had horrified looks on their faces.

Bumblebee: _**(Kidnapped?)**_

Smokescreen: "Them?"

Bulkhead: "Who took them?"

Arcee: "Were they Decepticons?"

The former Army Ranger looked at them with a serious expression, as they wanted answers, fast. He sighed and told them who really did this.

Agent Fowler: "At first that's what I thought. But then when I was searching the area for evidence, I found this."

He put his hand deep into his pocket and took out an object. Opening his hand, he revealed a pink cell phone that looked a little damaged from the crash. Team Prime looked at the phone and soon realized who it belonged to.

Bulkhead: "Hey! That's Miko's cell phone!"

Fowler looked at the Wrecker and nodded.

Agent Fowler: "That's correct. It was left in one of the jeeps along with some other objects that belonged to the kids. It was still on and had a text message that wasn't yet sent. I think she was trying to send it to all of you since they needed your assist. Looking through the message, Miko wrote that they were being under attack. But it wasn't from the cons. It said the convoy was attacked by MECH."

That shocked the team the most as Ratchet remembered all about that terrorist group.

Ratchet: "MECH? You mean those human cons that know of our existence? That used our Cybertronian biology to create that knock off of Optimus just to frame us?"

He looked up at the medic and nodded in agreement.

Agent Fowler: "The very same ones."

Bulkhead: "But how is that possible?"

Smokescreen: "Yeah. Bulkhead and I cleaned Silas's clock when his little toy went down in a ball of flames."

Ratchet: "My guess is that Silas still has his allegiance with Megatron and MECH is using this opportunity to kidnap the kids. Those humans are more vile then we thought."

Arcee would've guessed that too, but she remembered what happened when they were trying to stop the cons from getting the satellite's interface codes from a Colorado research facility. She turned to Ratchet and told him what she was thinking.

Arcee: "While I could agree with you on that assumption Ratchet, I don't think this is an alliance between MECH and the cons."

Ratchet turned to the femme and wanted an answer to that.

Ratchet: "Really? And what makes you think that?"

Arcee: "Because when we were trying to reach the facility in Colorado, there were many Decepticons protecting it and no MECH soldiers present."

The other Autobots soon realized that and agreed with their friend.

Bumblebee: _**(You know what, you're right Arcee. I didn't see any of Silas's cronies within the con firefight. Come to think of it, we haven't seen any of MECH at all.)**_

Smokescreen: "So wait. You're saying that Silas made a partnership all by himself and not of MECH? Heard this guy is bad to the core, but this is sick, even for him."

Fowler heard all of this and began to agree with the conversation. Whether Silas made a deal with MECH by himself, he's out of the picture, but not his organization.

Agent Fowler: "If that's the case, then we're dealing with something out of our reach. How they attacked that convoy was well organized and executed flawlessly. In short, I think someone else is pulling the strings in MECH."

Bulkhead: "But why did they take our friends? They don't pose much of a threat to them."

Agent Fowler: "That might be true, but they can use them for other intentions. They might force them to surrender any Intel about your existence, or hold them up for ransom, like what the cons did, like a hostage exchange of all of you for them. Either case, they need to be rescued before something bad happens to them. I got a message from General Bryce saying that he has search units scouting any place where MECH might reside, but it's going to take a while. The United States of America is a big country, and that's a lot of land."

Arcee heard this and crossed her arms, wondering about this rescue.

Arcee: "How long will it take, Fowler?"

The agent looked at the femme and sighed to himself.

Agent Fowler: "Well, first we have to comb the scene of the attack to see if there was any trace of MECH's activities. Then start scanning the area for tire tracks or illegal flight patterns. Then we have to pinpoint where these paths came from at the start and-"

Arcee: "How. Long."

Fowler could tell that she was losing patience and he knew how she gets when getting impatient. So he took a deep breath and answered her straight away.

Agent Fowler: "I'd say around two to three months tops."

That's when Arcee snapped.

Arcee: "Two to three months? THAT LONG!? You've got to be fragging kidding me! You honestly expect us to wait for any news of the kid's disappearance for that many months and not do anything about it? For all we know they could be dead by the time you find them!"

Agent Fowler: "No one said it would be easy. Searches like this take time and money. Besides, how was I supposed to know that MECH was going to attack that convoy without warning? They're not the type of guys that would phone it in. I will do the best I can to finish this search early, but there's no telling whether I can find them in time. You just have to wait until I get any updates of their whereabouts."

The femme glared at the former Army Ranger and had a rotten sound in her voice.

Arcee: "With all due respect Agent Fowler, I'm not the waiting type of gal. I'm out."

She walked away from the group and headed to the base exit. Ratchet noticed this and stopped her from leaving.

Ratchet: "Ep, ep, ep! Where do you think you're going?"

Arcee: "To find the kids and June."

The medic was shocked at what she was going to do and told her to stop.

Ratchet: "You can't go out there! Those Decepticons are still looking for survivors who escaped the old base. You leave here and in a matter of cycles they will be all over you. You won't be able to defend yourself! Even if you managed to avoid capture, you don't even know where MECH has the kids, or the slightest clue on how to rescue them. You have to remain here until-"

Arcee turned to him and finished his question with sheer anger in her voice box.

Arcee: "Until what!? Until Fowler finds them himself?! You heard what he said. It's going to take mega cycles to find our friends. I'm not going to be sitting around while MECH does who knows what to them. I have to do something."

Ratchet: "And I'm telling you to remain here no matter what. We've already lost one Autobot to the hands of the cons. We cannot afford to lose another."

The femme slowly approached the medic with a disgusted look on her face.

Arcee: "If Optimus were here, he would've felt differently."

Ratchet turned his head away when hearing that name and responded back.

Ratchet: "Well Optimus isn't here. And if he was, he would say that it would be suicide."

Arcee: "Then if that's the case, I will still take the risk in our late leader's name. At least he understood it, unlike you, who seem to care only about our lives instead of theirs!"

Just as she finished that sentence, Arcee unexpectedly slapped the medic in the face so hard that it made him stagger a bit. The rest of the team looked on and were shocked by what she did. Ratchet looked back at the femme and didn't know what to say while Arcee stared him down with icy eyes.

Arcee: "You're pathetic…"

She walked away from him and headed back to her quarters while twisting her wrist to get the feeling back to her servo. The medic looked at her walking away and was completely irate about what happened.

Ratchet: "Why that no good, over abusive, arrogant, little glitch! Who does she think she is, hitting me like that? I'm going to-"

He started to follow Arcee and was about to give her a piece of his processor. But Bulkhead blocked him and told him to calm down.

Bulkhead: "Easy there doc. Wouldn't want to see two hot heads colliding with each other. Let us handle it. Bee, Smoke, let's go."

Both Bumblebee and Smokescreen looked at the Wrecker and nodded in approval. So the three went after the two-wheeler while Ratchet rubbed his face where the slap hit him. Fowler had watched this argument and was a little stunned at what just happened. He turned to the old bot and tried to lower the tension.

Agent Fowler: "Huh… Guess that went well."

Ratchet: "Yeah… It sure did."

The mech then walked away and decided to cool his head while turning his attention towards getting the place in tiptop shape. What no one noticed was that someone else had been listening to the whole interaction. Coming out of the shadow was Wheeljack. He heard the conversations going on and saw the slap Arcee gave Ratchet. Watching the three leaving to talk to the femme, and then glancing back at Ratchet, he decided to do something about it. He walked away from the medic and followed the three.

* * *

In the Autobot's quarters, Arcee was still fuming over Ratchet's egotistical words. She was stomping her feet and couldn't take this lying down. The other three were following her and trying to calm her down.

Bulkhead: "Arcee, wait! Let's talk about this."

But Arcee didn't listen as she stormed through the hall.

Arcee: "Not in a good mood, Bulk. It'd be wise if you stay out of my way."

Bulkhead: "Listen Arcee, I can understand how upset you are. But you need to think this clearly. Ratchet does care for the kids, and us; he was just a little on edge from restoring our planet. He didn't really mean for any of that to happen."

She immediately turned heels to face the Wrecker and shot back at him and the others.

Arcee: "No, you don't get it Bulkhead! I don't care about our home, or what Ratchet did that got us into this predicament to begin with. I only care about Jack! I'm scared for him! Terrified at the fact that MECH kidnapped him and his mother and doing Primus knows what to them! I can't stay here while they get tortured, or worse. I have to do something to save them. Besides, I know the rest of you are as concerned about the others as I am. I mean, Bulkhead, you care as much for Miko, don't you?"

Bulkhead got quiet for a moment and realized she does have a point. He cares for Miko as much as Arcee cares for Jack. So he took a breather and answered her.

Bulkhead: "Why, of course I care about Miko! She's the best friend a bot could ever ask for. Not to mention that she never left my side while I was recovering from that Tox-En exposure."

She then looked at Bumblebee and asked the same question.

Arcee: "And what about you Bumblebee? Do you care for Raf as well?"

The scout was a little quiet for a moment until he spoke up in his beep and boops.

Bumblebee: _**(After what happened when Megatron tried to kill him, I **__**do**__** care for him, more than ever!)**_

Then she looked at Smokescreen, and asked the same thing.

Arcee: "And Smokescreen, do you care about our friends, even though your time on this planet is less than ours?"

Smoke nodded and shared his feelings with her.

Smokescreen: "Well yeah. I do care about them. I mean, I now understand what you are fighting for, even after the stupid stunt I pulled with Jack. These humans are our number one priority in the war, especially now with the cons setting up shop in Nevada. I could even agree with Bulk and Bee here that the children need to be rescued and protected. But you heard what Ratchet and Fowler said. We can't be out in the open while we're searching for them. Once the cons locate our signatures, we wouldn't last nanoclicks with a huge armada fighting us."

Arcee: "Well, we hid from the cons for a week without trouble. I do believe we can do that while searching for them. I would do anything to save Jack, ANYTHING!"

Just as she said that, there was another voice coming from behind the mechs.

Wheeljack: "Then I do believe you need my help."

Arcee's receptors perked up when she heard that voice while the others turned around to see who said that. What they saw was Wheeljack leaning on the wall with a confident smirk on his face. Bulkhead was surprised by this and answered back.

Bulkhead: "Wheeljack? How long have you been there?"

Jackie smirked and responded back.

Wheeljack: "Not too long, Bulkhead. I heard about what happened to your human friends. Sorry about your loss. I just hope you find them in time."

Arcee pushed the others away and didn't like his attitude.

Arcee: "And why would you care about what happened to them? Last time I checked, you never spent any time with them since you've been flying around the world."

Wheeljack: "True… But if you are determined to rescue them, I think I can help you with that."

The others looked at each other and wondered what he was up to. Smokescreen then approached him and asked away as well.

Smokescreen: "Is that right? And why do you want to help us?"

Wheeljack: "Because I have something that can help you get by without any cons hunting you down."

There was a bit of silence within the group until, her attitude shifting from confrontational to hopeful, Arcee spoke up.

Arcee: "Really?"

Jackie nodded and walked away, telling the others to follow.

Wheeljack: "Follow me."

* * *

In the garage, the Jackhammer was sitting in the middle, still in need of repair from the crash landing. Wheeljack had work left to do on the navigational systems and the thrusters before he could get it airborne. The huge garage door opened up and the team entered through with Wheeljack leading the way. As they entered the garage, the Wrecker told them something they didn't know.

Wheeljack: "Before I became a Wrecker I was once an inventing mechanic. Been building and repairing things for the future of Cybertron before the war consumed it. Even as a Wrecker, I was still creating stuff even to this solar cycle. Most of the stuff I created was meant for the war, giving the Autobot refugees an advantage in fighting. Not that easy surviving through the universe without something extra in your possession, right?"

The four listened in and were awed by what he said. They never knew Wheeljack had once been an inventor, nor did they know that he had created some weapons and gadgets that were useful for the war. But Bulkhead was once a construction worker before he became a Wrecker too, so it's obvious that bots that break stuff are the ones that build stuff. But they still didn't know what he had that could help them find their friends, let alone avoid detection from the Decepticons. Arcee stepped forward and asked him.

Arcee: "I still don't understand what this has to do with the predicament we're in."

Wheeljack looked back at the femme and smirked at her response.

Wheeljack: "Well little lady, you need a way to find the kids without getting tracked by the enemy right? Well I got just the thing to help you with your little problem. Follow me inside."

As soon as they entered the Jackhammer, Jackie started to search through the many compartments in the back while Team Prime waited. He kept on looking through each compartment, looking for what the team needed to get an edge against their enemies.

Wheeljack: "Now let's see. Where is it? I know I put it around here somewhere… Aha! There it is!"

He took the compartment out and rested it on the metal floor, showing it to the Autobots.

Wheeljack: "Allow me to introduce you to the latest protection against any Decepticon scrappers."

The team looked at the box-like compartment and noticed that it was filled with nothing but many little disks with red lights on them. They were a little confused and didn't know what they were.

Smokescreen: "Wow… Little disks… Now that's something…"

The Wrecker gave off a deep sigh and realized this wouldn't do. So he explained it to them in more detail.

Wheeljack: "These little disks are something I like to call Energon Dampeners, or ED for short."

Now that got their attention, as Arcee raised a metallic eyebrow.

Arcee: "ED, huh?"

Jackie picked up one of the little disks and held it out for them to see while giving them the facts.

Wheeljack: "Yep. From what I can understand, the cons always have ways of searching for an Autobot refugee. Searching for survivors by scanning their energon signature is the main reason why Autobots are being hunted down easily. That's what these babies are for. The EDs act like a cloaking device, blocking any energon signature from Decepticon scanners. Not even the cons' eyes and ears, Soundwave, can trace them with my little creation. Once they are installed into a Cybertronian's system…"

He looked back at the team and could tell from their expressions that they were still a little confused. He breathed through his ventilation ducts and decided to try another way to get them to understand.

Wheeljack: "Oh look who I'm talking to. You guys care less about ingenuity and more about fighting. Maybe a little demonstration is in order."

He took a good look at the group and decided to try his invention out on the scout.

Wheeljack: "Hey Bumblebee, can I borrow you for a nanoclick?"

Bee looked around and then pointed to himself, beeping in a questionable sound.

Bumblebee: _**(Me? Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like it?)**_

He then approached the Wrecker, feeling a little nervous about the whole thing while the others watched on, curious as to what Jackie was going to do.

Arcee: "This should be interesting."

Wheeljack then turned on his computer screen to gain access to the energon scanners. Once the scanning was done, it displayed five signatures on the screen, each with an ID picture of the Autobot's face. He was lucky his scanners picked up the Team Prime's signatures around his ship or this demonstration would've been a real bust. He then turned to them and started his demonstration.

Wheeljack: "As you can see, each of our energon signatures is in this scanner here. This is the same type of scanner the cons or Soundwave use to find us. However, if we install this dampener into Bumblebee…"

He looked to find a good place to put the ED into Bumblebee's body. He then placed the dampener into Bee's side, deep into his hip area. The scout squirmed a little and felt a little ticklish, as the sound of his beeps were that of laughter.

Bumblebee: _**(Stop it! That tickles!)**_

After getting the dampener in there, he slapped his servos and rubbed them together, pleased with what he did.

Wheeljack: "There we go. Now, everyone watch Bumblebee's signature on the screen."

The team watched the screen to see if there was anything different. As they looked, they noticed Bumblebee's picture started looking a little distorted until it vanished completely. Now there were only four energon signatures around the Jackhammer instead of five. The group watched and they were in awe by this, as Bumblebee saw his signature gone from the screen.

Bumblebee: _**(Hey! Where did my signature go?)**_

Jackie just smiled, as he had proven that his invention worked.

Wheeljack: "See? What'd I tell you? The ED worked like a charm. And the best part is that these last long and won't go offline no matter what. Just make sure those Decepticreeps don't get close to you in person."

Arcee took a closer look at the screen and still couldn't find Bumblebee's signature anywhere on the map. She turned to him and was amazed by this.

Arcee: "Impressive, Wheeljack. I gotta say you never cease to amaze us."

He turned to the two-wheeler and had a cocky look on his face.

Wheeljack: "What can I say? I'm full of surprises. And believe me, there's plenty more where that came from."

Smoke shook his head and was confused about something.

Smokescreen: "Hold up. If you said that these will help us get by without any of those cons following us, then why didn't you give them to us in the first place?"

The Wrecker turned to the Elite Guard member and answered away.

Wheeljack: "Well, to tell you the truth, I was going to give Ratchet the EDs when I was done repairing my ship as a gift. But when I heard that you were going to look for the kids, I believed it was the right time to give them to you."

Bulkhead shook his head and couldn't believe he kept it a secret 'till now.

Bulkhead: "Jackie I can't believe you. All this time you've been keeping this from us since we got here and you would never tell us?"

Wheeljack turned to his friend and explained some things to him.

Wheeljack: "Come on Bulk, you want me to give out my inventions like energon candy? I don't think so. And besides, if word got out on this then the cons would be hunting me down just to get their grubby little digits on the EDs. Can't let that happen now can we?"

Arcee sighed to herself and decided to look on the bright side.

Arcee: "Well whatever the case, at least we got a chance of survival out there. Now we need to find MECH and rescue the kids before they do something terrible to them."

Smokescreen thought this through and remembered something. The Autobots told him stories about their encounters with MECH, and one thing that stuck out was how they always had a tendency to hide their tracks and remain hidden for who knows how long. And with their friends held captive, there's no telling where they might be, so where are they going to look to find them. So he turned to her and shared his thoughts.

Smokescreen: "That's easier said than done, Arcee."

She turned to him and wondered what he meant by that.

Arcee: "And why's that Smokescreen?"

Smokescreen: "Because if I remember correctly, you told me that MECH is a secret organization that likes to keep their business under the radar."

Bulkhead listened to what he said and realized he had a point.

Bulkhead: "Smoke's right Arcee. MECH's always been the ones with the tendency to hide anywhere in the U.S. It could take us decacycles to find them all over the country, and without a ground bridge to get us across the states, probably longer. So in Earth terms, it would be like finding needle in a haystack, a really big haystack."

Arcee nodded and had to admit they were right for once. Trying to find their friends without getting detected by the cons was one thing, but looking for them all across America, that's another. Rubbing her metallic chin, she pondered about that and wondered what to do.

Arcee: "There's got to be a way to find them quick. But how?"

After thinking through her options, she realized they had one thing that could help them find the kids quick. The Jackhammer. She turned back to Wheeljack and asked for a favor.

Arcee: "Wheeljack, think we can borrow your ship to help with the search?"

The Wrecker turned to her and was surprised by the question.

Wheeljack: "You want to borrow my Jackhammer? Are you kidding me? I'm sorry girl, but no one drives my baby but me. The last thing I want is a Cybertronian piloting my ship and crashing it. Besides, I still need to finish repairing it before I could leave."

Arcee: "And how long do you think it would take to finish with the repairs?"

Jackie gave it some thought and told her about the damage.

Wheeljack: "Well the navigational system is still a mess and I need to restart the system. Not to mention my thrusters are still shot from the crash. If I can repair all of those along with adding a dampener in the ship so the cons won't track it, I say it would be a couple of cycles, probably less if we're lucky."

Arcee: "Well you better do that quick. The sooner that ship is repaired, the better we start our rescue. Excuse me."

She then walked away from the group to be by herself for a moment. Smokescreen noticed that and decided to check up on her to see if she's all right. As he followed her Wheeljack told Bulk to come forward.

Wheeljack: "Bulkhead, you're next. Try not to squirm."

Bulk sighed to himself and walked towards him.

Bulkhead: "C'mon Jackie, you know I don't squirm."

As Jackie was installing the dampener in his friend, Smokescreen got out of the Jackhammer and went searching for the two-wheeler. After looking around, he spotted her leaning on the wall with her back turned to the ship and her arms crossed. He could tell that she was quiet and was staring off into space. Concerned for her, he came up and talked to her.

Smokescreen: "Arcee, is everything okay?"

Arcee looked back at the Elite Guard and gave a soft sigh.

Arcee: "Yeah Smoke, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Jack is all."

Smokescreen turned his head away and could tell why she's quiet. She's already lost two partners in this war; he could tell that she doesn't want to lose her third. And who could blame her? Smoke learned his lesson after dragging Jack into relic hunting, which led to her partner being hunted down by Insecticons. So he knows that these humans need to be protected, no matter what. But the one thing he noticed was that Arcee was almost obsessive in protecting Jack, more so than the others. Looking at her, he realized why.

Smokescreen: "You care about Jack, huh?"

The femme turned to him and answered honestly.

Arcee: "To tell you the truth Smoke, I do care for him. Since losing both Tailgate and Cliffjumper during the war, I was spark broken. Jack managed to seal up that wound, but it still lingers on because of how fragile he is. Jack is special to me because not only is he my third partner; he's my first human partner. I cannot lose him like how I lost the others."

He heard what she said and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He is still new to Team Prime and has already experienced the turmoil this team's gone through, especially after the Decepticons managed to tip the balance of power to their side and destroyed everything, from their base to Jasper, all the way down to the loss of Optimus. Now with the news of MECH capturing the kids, it's harder for her to take and she's been wound tight in the whole thing. He had to be the voice of reason for all of this and needed to give her his thoughts. He placed a servo on her shoulder and gave her a warm sympathetic smile on his faceplate. Arcee looked up at him and was surprised by how he's handling this as he told her his thoughts.

Smokescreen: "Arcee, I know you've been going through so much after what happened. We've all been going through this mess since Cybertron and it's all hard to swallow. But we need to be strong. You need to be strong. That's what Optimus wants from us. He doesn't want to see us acting like a bunch of weaklings. What we need to do is pick ourselves up and push forward. If you want to rescue Jack, you need to keep fighting for him. No exceptions."

Arcee's optics were wide and couldn't believe what he said. She never thought that he would give her such strong advice. For a rookie that just joined Team Prime, his words were powerfully motivating. As they echoed in her processor, she realized that she had to follow his advice. If she's going to save Jack from MECH, let alone protect him, she had to fight until her dying breath. Smoke could tell that she took his words well and removed his servo from her shoulder, finishing what he wanted to say.

Smokescreen: "Besides, you shouldn't worry about Jack. He's a strong kid. I'm pretty sure he can take good care of himself, as well as his friends and his mom."

Arcee looked up at him and nodded in approval. Just then, Bulkhead came out of the Jackhammer and called to the Elite Guard.

Bulkhead: "Smokescreen, Jackie needs to implant the ED in you. Better get into his ship so he can begin the installation."

Smokescreen turned back to Bulk and told him he was coming.

Smokescreen: "Be right there!"

He then walked away from the femme and headed back to the ship to get the Energon Dampener into his system. As he was leaving, Arcee thought of the last thing he said and dropped her head down, wondering if her friend and partner would be all right.

Arcee: "I hope you're right Smokescreen. I hope your right…"

If only she and the other Autobots had any idea what MECH was really doing to them.

* * *

As the team was getting themselves ready for a rescue mission, MECH's science division was continuing with the Director's Project Metamorphosis. So far they had managed to succeed in the first phase by turning Jack, Raf, Miko, and June into multi-colored energon cubes. Now they were in the middle of phase two. The light blue, pinkish purple, orange brown, and red cubes were individually placed in a small machine with laser like wielders and scanners over them, each of which penetrated through the goo and began their work. But all that laser and scanner work wasn't hurting the once human test subjects. Instead, they were rearranging the genetic structure within the goo to convert it from human to Cybertronian. Next to them, scientists were at the computers making adjustments to the Energon substance. Not far from them, the Director, Commander Rourke and Professor Sumdac were watching the whole thing proceed, while the soldier next to them was recording the progress of the project. The Director looked on and wondered whether this would finish soon so he could get started with the final phase. He looked at one of the scientists and asked.

Director: "How long until we're ready for the final phase?"

One of the scientists turned back to leader and answered.

MECH Scientist 1: "Not too long Director. We still need to finish altering the test subject's genes to remove any remaining human DNA."

Director: "Well, hurry up already. The board needs the results of my project and I cannot let them wait much longer."

The scientist nodded and continued working on a few modifications. The commander looked on and was intrigued by what the science team was doing, but didn't have a clue about the machine or how it worked. So he asked the Director about it.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, if I may ask, what is the science team doing?"

The Director smiled and explained.

Director: "This commander, is the second phase of Project Metamorphosis, the cocoon stage. With our test subjects now converged into energon, the science team is using the lasers and scanners to alter their genetic code, replacing the human genes with that of Cybertronian. That and a few other alterations."

The commander looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Commander Rourke: "Other Alterations?"

Director: "Yes. If I know one thing about these alien beings, it is that they have a strong variety of weapons for both defense and offense, along with various gadgets to get by. Not only does this machine alter the human genes, it can also download schematics for weapons and other mods based on the subject's personality and traits. According to the information my undercover operative uncovered, the first three were the easiest to figure out: a nurse, a hacker, and a rebel. The fourth one though, this Jackson Darby, is somewhat of a mystery. From what they can tell, this boy is somewhat strong willed, brave, and showed no fear. You saw him in that tube while we were converging him, his friends, and his mother into energon. He was in deep pain, but he didn't scream and was looking at us with that cold stare. It was like he showed no weakness. So I got the perfect schematics for him for his skills."

Rourke looked back at the machine and nodded in approval.

Commander Rourke: "I see…"

As the scientists finished making the alterations, The Director turned to Professor Sumdac and noticed that he was quiet. Ever since the completion of the first phase, the professor looked a little unsure of himself. He sighed and decided to lighten him up.

Director: "Something on your mind lately, Sumdac?"

The professor blinked his eyes and turned to the head of the science division.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh, sorry Director. I didn't mean to worry you. It's just what happened to these people."

Director: "Whatever do you mean professor?"

Isaac sighed to himself and decided to say it straight forward.

Professor Sumdac: "Well, just look at what we did to them! We just turned four innocent civilians, mostly children, into lifeless cubes. I just cannot believe that I have killed them for you little pet project. This is not what you hired me for."

The Director heard his sorrow and could tell that he felt a little guilty. Looking back at the cubes, he reassured Sumdac that it was okay.

Director: "You're over exaggerating yourself professor. These test subjects aren't dead. They're pretty much alive, technically. You see, they are in a semi conscious state, sort of like a patient that's under a vegetated coma. Even after the first phase, these four aren't fully aware of their condition because of their ever-living limbo. Not only that, but their memories and knowledge of their existence are still intact within the energon. I want to make sure that these scanners and lasers don't penetrate any of that. Once the third phase is completed, all of their information will be downloaded into their new brains, processors if you will. Don't feel too guilty professor, once this project is completed you will see the end results."

The professor lowered his head and sighed to himself with what the Director said.

Professor Sumdac: "Really? Because deep down inside, I still feel guilty."

Just as he said that, the scientist turned to the Director and told him that they are finished.

MECH Scientist: "Sir, we have finished with the alterations."

The head of the science division looked at him and nodded in approval.

Director: "Excellent work. Let us begin phase three, the butterfly stage. Get the cubes above the berths."

The scientist nodded and pushed a button on the console. Within moments, the glass container opened up and the tray pushed the four energon cubes out into the open. Then four huge pincers came down and grabbed each cube, lifting them up in the air. On the main console, another science team operated the cranes, carrying the former humans to the first four berths to begin the final stage. Once they were over the berths, the scientists pressed a few keys and the spinners on the ends of the pincers began to tilt downwards, letting the energon pour into the humanoid moldings. As the contents were being poured, the Director asked Sumdac for a quick favor.

Director: "Professor Sumdac, since you were the one who created these inventions for my project would you do the honors and begin the final phase?"

The professor looked at him and was a little unsure about this.

Professor Sumdac: "And what exactly should I be doing, Director?"

He turned to the professor and told him what he was going to do.

Director: "Why, bringing life back to these glowing puddles of course. These four energon liquids need to be electrified in order to recreate our test subjects. With enough volts of electricity, our friends here will be reborn anew."

The professor looked back at the berths being filled with the energon of each person and was worried.

Professor Sumdac: "I don't know if it is wise to do that Director. I mean, good to know that even after the first phase, the subjects are still alive molecularly, but you need to think about the consequences. Putting too many volts to these test subjects is like an inmate being electrocuted in an electric chair. If I put too much power to the energon, then the cells within them could burn out and they would ultimately die."

Director: "That might be true, but that's a simple theory. You saw the reaction between the electrical nodes and the original energon on the first phase, correct? Well from what I can picture, this alien substance creates a much stronger glow when touched with electricity. So if my assumption is correct, the more power we add, the more glow this new energon would react to. And the more glow from the four liquids, then new Cybertronians would be reborn. It's that simple. Now please don't question my work professor and begin with the final phase."

The professor looked at the Director's stare and decided to not question him anymore. He then started to put his goggles over his eyes and headed to the main console to start the final phase. With the last bit of energon poured into the each of the moldings, Sumdac typed a few key sequences and electrical nodes popped out around the borders of each molding. Looking back at the berths where the once humans were, he took a deep breath, prayed that it would work, and pushed the red button to begin the process. Electricity started to spark out of the nodes and into the pools of energon, but it was too low to recreate life. With his hand on the dial, he slowly turned it to give it a little more power. A window popped up on the screen, showing everyone the power levels that were being added. Everyone watched the berths carefully as the energon began to glow and bubble.

Professor Sumdac: "Power levels reaching 10%… 25%… 50%…"

He looked up at the screen to see if there was enough power to create life. Looking at the bar below the percent of power, he noticed that the color went from green to yellow, meaning cautionary. So he stopped the dial to the right percentage and told everyone the percentage.

Professor Sumdac: "Power levels stabilizing at 75%."

The Director furrowed his brow and didn't like it. He knew in his head that 75% wasn't enough to create the robotic soldiers he needed. So he approached the professor and decided to do this himself. Shoving the professor away, he put his hand on the dial and continued to add more power. The professor looked up at the screen and watched the power bar going into the red. He turned to the Director and tried to stop him.

Professor Sumdac: "What are you doing? You can't increase the power to dangerous levels! It's against all safety protocols!"

But the Director continued to do it anyway and dismissed the professor's fears.

Director: "I have not spent months of research and construction just for safety, professor. I want results!"

The numbers of the volts were nearing 100%, but it still wasn't enough. He turned the dial a little more and the gauge was now up to 110% with a 'Warning' message popping up under the bar meter. Isaac looked up at the monitor and could tell that it wasn't good. When he turned to see the berths, he and the others saw electricity shooting out just about everywhere.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh dear…"

He slowly backed away and was scared for what was going to happen. At the same time, electricity continued to glow brighter and was spreading out all over the room. A few of the soldiers covered their eyes, as the lightning was too bright for them to look at while others slowly backed away. The electrical volts continued to grow more powerful by the second until they all got sucked into the nodes. But in a matter of seconds electrical pulses hit the pools of energon and exploded throughout the room, sending everyone flying from the blast and causing a temporary blackout within the prison and around the region for miles away. There were only a few seconds of darkness until the lights in the facility went back on, and the room where the experiment took place went online again. Everyone was on the floor until they slowly got back up and were a little shaken from the impact on the floor. The Director got back up and looked to see if there were any injuries.

Director: "Is everyone all right?"

There were some moans and groans and those that were a little woozy from the impact. The professor was a little dizzy too, but he was a little angry about what happened just moments ago. He turned to the Director and told him about what he did.

Professor Sumdac: "What were you thinking, Director?! You can't overload the power levels during experimentation! It would create an EMP-like field that would cause temporary blackouts. Not only that, but we have no idea what reaction the electrical field would do to the energon!"

The Director turned to him and retorted back.

Director: "For your information professor, I was trying to perfect my project. The power levels you provided weren't enough to bring life back to these test subjects. What I was trying to do was boost the power levels to complete this project."

Professor Sumdac: "Well that was too much power you've added! Now because of that, we may have lost these test subjects due to the high electrical fields. They could be dead by now!"

Director: "Then if that's the case it was a good sacrifice for our project. It's a lesson from which we can learn."

Commander Rourke headed to the professor and decided to give him a piece of his mind.

Commander Rourke: "The Director is right, professor. We need to make the riskiest of decisions in completing our goals. You should know better."

Sumdac turned to the commander and argued back to him.

Professor Sumdac: "I should know better? I was trying to go through with safety protocols! Do you have any idea how hard it is trying to take a few steps back before taking a big step forward?"

As they were arguing, the soldier holding the camera was dusting himself off and checked to see if the camera was still working. Relieved that the camera was still functioning, he looked up and noticed something odd about the berths containing the energon of the four formers humans. From what he could see, the pools of energon were glowing very brightly and bubbling in the center. He slowly lowered his camera and warned the Director about what he was seeing.

MECH Soldier 6: "Uh sir? I think you need to see this."

The three stopped arguing and looked up at the berths to see what the soldier was referring to. What they saw was the energon glowing and bubbling on each of the berths, and they could tell that something was about to happen. Their eyes were drawn to the center berth, which was bubbling the most, as something slowly poked out of it.

Just as this was getting a little weird, all four energon pools exploded and multiple wires burst out. Almost every soldier got the shock of their lives as they pointed their weapons right at the wires coming out of the energon. But the Director saw this and told everyone to remain calm.

Director: "Wait! Hold your fire! This is it!"

The soldiers lowered their weapons as they watched the metamorphosis taking place. The wires continued to grow and lay on the berths, spreading and extending to what looked like the arms, legs, body, and head of huge giants. The rest of the energon grew, morphed, and hardened, turning into some type of titanium exoskeleton frame. Many gears and levers grew within the many joints within the skeletal structure for flexibility, turning, and walking. Circuits then started to appear on parts of the bodies, as mods and weapons were added. Optics, voice boxes, audio receptors, and processors grew and formed in and on the metallic skull structure. T-Cogs were formed on the side of their hips to help them scan and transform. A spark chamber was automatically put together within the chest area as a spark grew and matured from inside, beating like that of a heart. Finally, a combination of protoform metallic skin and armor covered the inner workings, making them look like warriors. Once the process stopped, everyone stared in awe and couldn't believe what they'd just seen. The Director then took a step forward and ordered one of the scientists to handle something.

Director: "Lower the berths, so that I can see them."

The scientist nodded and pressed a button to help the berths slant downwards. Once they were fully revealed, the head of the science division was amazed at the results and couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

Director: "Gentlemen, savor this moment. Because tonight, we have officially made history…"

He laughed lowly with sheer thought and was amazed at his work, for standing right in front of him were four robots that looked like Jack, Raf, Miko, and June. Indeed history was made for MECH and it showed. For the four test subjects that were killed as humans were now Cybertronians. Project Metamorphosis was a sheer success.

* * *

**And there you have it folks. Chapter four is finished and the four former humans are now Cybertronians. Now I know you are all wondering what they look like as Cybertronians and why I didn't put together a description about each of them. Well, I decided to reveal what they look like as robots in the next few chapters. Can't be revealing too much in one go right? Anyways, I'll see you all on the next chapter where the Autobots prepare a rescue. It's going to be interesting. Please Review.**


	5. Rescue

**Yeah I'll get started with the fifth chapter but before I do, I need to give you all an update on the season 3 of Transformers Prime that would be coming out in spring. Been going through Wikipedia and Youtube to see what they've added and discovered something interesting. From what I can piece together, the Predacons are going to make their debut on the third season. Kind of a surprise for me since the Predacons are somewhat of Decepticons in animal form. Guess that's the reason why the title for season three is called Beast Hunters. No news on other characters though. There was this Youtube video that there would be other Autobot and Decepticon characters that would make their debut like Elita-One, Ironhide, Swindle, and Mix Master, but it is unofficial and it's under the user's perspective. Don't think they would make an appearance anytime soon. Still, the debut of the Predacons and this Predaking raises a whole lot of big question marks in the whole thing. If the Predacons are going to show up, is there a possibility that the Maximals will make their debut too? And what about Team Prime or the Decepticons? Would they be absent throughout half of the season? Is it obvious that this Beast Hunters thing is going to become a bit of a reboot or cop out of Beast Wars, a show I liked a long time ago? I don't see how the people in Hasbro will do something like that being that this season is shorter then the others. Well let's hope it won't go down like that. At least there's my own version of the season I'm doing here in Fanficton. Got a lot of ideas for other episodes and depending of school and work, I will update them from time to time.**

**Moving on! Got some really good responses from my last chapter. 10 reviews on the last chapter with a total of 59 on the whole story. Not to mention 518 hits on the last chapter and a total of over 11,500. Got to admit, I haven't have this much big of a response since Doomed Titans, or my Ben 10 story. I would like to thank you for your responses. Though I need clear one thing before I would continue. There was one reviewer that said that he didn't know that the Autobots friends were killed. So let me be a little clearer incase anyone missed it in the last chapter. Jack, Raf, Miko, and June are not dead. Though they might be energon, they are in a semi conscious state, so they are technically still alive. Let's just put that out of the way. Time for chapter five of TFP S3 E1, that's short for Transformers Prime Season 3 Episode 1. Team Prime now knows the location of MECH's base of operation and are ready to leave. At the same time, MECH and the Director celebrate their grandest achievement. But one wasn't celebrating, as he feared that he made a grave mistake.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Five: Rescue

_To the Board of Directors of MECH,_

_As you are fully aware, I've been working on my own experiment that would succeed Silas's Chimera. I'm sending you this message to let you know that Project Metamorphosis has succeeded in many ways. With the help of my research and Sumdac's ingenuity, we have created the perfect robotic soldiers for our cause. Though we did have a minor setback in the end, everything went according to plan and the test subjects I've chosen have survived the experiment._

_Now I know you want some visual evidence of my work. Well, I've got the video proof you needed. Everything, from start to finish. We'll have another meeting at 2200 hours precisely, where I will give you all the details and the video showing the experiment. I'm sure that when you see my project, you will be impressed by it all._

_Sincerely,  
The Head of MECH's Science Division,  
The Director_

* * *

Back at the Autobot's new base underneath Lake Erie, everything was completely quiet for the past several hours. Ratchet was at the ground bridge making some repairs. Ever since he left it half finished, it was out of commission. He had to go back to the bridge to make some fixer uppers before he could get it to work. Meanwhile, the other Autobots were doing their own thing. Bulkhead was talking to Smokescreen about one of the many Wrecker battles he'd been through in the past. Bumblebee was doing some sparring on his own to get in the game. And Arcee was leaning on the wall, drinking her energon after her own training. But what they were really doing was waiting for Wheeljack to finish repairing his Jackhammer so they could leave.

Ever since they heard the news that MECH had taken the kids and June, they needed to rescue them before they could do whatever they were going to do. But with the Decepticons still searching for them, it would be an impossible feat. Then, Wheeljack came in and told them that he could help them. He was able to install some Energon Dampeners, a little device he invented, to hide their energon signatures from the cons. Even the Wrecker himself was able to install his own dampener so he wouldn't get hunted down as well. Now all they have to do is wait until Jackie got his ship up and running. As they were waiting, a beep was heard on the comm channels, a private channel that Soundwave won't pick up, as one of the screens on the main command console turned on. On one screen was a live video feed and on that feed was none other than the Autobot's liaison, William Fowler.

Agent Fowler: _"Ratchet? Do you read me?"_

Ratchet stopped welding the metal support in the tunnel when he heard his name and approached the command console.

Ratchet: "I read you loud and clear Agent Fowler. What seems to be the problem?"

Agent Fowler: _"No problem here Ratchet. But there is some good news regarding the search for your friends."_

The rest of the Autobots receptors perked up when they heard that and gathered around to see what type of news there was.

Ratchet: "What do you mean by that Fowler? I thought you said that the search could take months."

Agent Fowler: _"So I said. But then there was an incident in Tennessee. There were numerous calls from every town about temporary blackouts that lasted for a few hours. Take a look at this map."_

Another window appeared next to the video feed showing a satellite map of Tennessee. Within that view, they noticed a big dark circle that engulfed the center of the state, as towns and highways were darkened. Fowler continued to explain what happened.

Agent Fowler: _"As you can see on this satellite map, towns from miles away went through a major power outage. People were living without power, there were traffic backups on almost every highway, and telephone services were disrupted. Here's the part where it gets suspicious. As you can see, the blackouts happened all within a wide circle, as if it spread from a single source."_

Ratchet: "And what does this blackout have to do with the missing kids?"

Agent Fowler: _"Here, let me rewind this to where the blackout started."_

As he was clicking on his mouse, everyone watched as the circle grew smaller and smaller until there was nothing there. He then slowed it down frame by frame to show a small dark speck at where the blackout occurred.

Agent Fowler: _"This is before the continuous blackouts, and judging by the distance, the source came from that one area. Let me maximize the image for you to get a better view."_

Again he clicked on the mouse go give the team a close up view of the source. What they saw appeared to be a huge prison within a forested area. The medic looked at that and was a little confused by the picture.

Ratchet: "What is that?"

Fowler smiled and told him about the place.

Agent Fowler: _"That, Ratchet, is Saddy Brooks Correctional facility, an old prison that's close to the town of Bastian. This prison was owned and operated by Saddy Brook herself and was meant to keep and institutionalize criminals and murderers since 1943. It was one of the biggest prisons in the US and was one of the top correctional facilities between Easter State and Alcatraz. But in 1976, there was a huge riot from within and there were severe casualties. That incident led to the prison's closing and it remained abandoned for over 3 decades. Or so we thought. Take a look at these infrared photos we got."_

Just then, a few windows popped up showing the old prison in infrared photos. From what the team saw, there were a lot of red and yellow markings outside and inside the prison itself. As they were looking at the photos, Fowler continued.

Agent Fowler: _"As you can see by these pictures, there appears to be a lot of activity within the area. And the last time I checked, that prison hasn't been used in a long time. So unless there are ghosts within those prison walls, I believe that someone is using it."_

Ratchet looked at the pictures too and realized what Fowler was talking about.

Ratchet: "Agent Fowler, are you saying that the prison is one of MECH's bases of operation?"

Agent Fowler:_ "Is a bald eagle bald? MECH always tends to hide their headquarters someplace remote and abandoned. And judging by the power outage that happened across a section of Tennessee, I do believe that they are related to it. There could be a strong possibility that they might have your friends held captive in there as well."_

As he was talking about that, the rest of Team Prime heard it and realized that not only have they got the location of MECH's new base of operations, but also a chance that the kids could be there as well. That means that they have to head down there now and start the rescue mission. Turning to the group, Arcee gestured to them to head to the garage where Wheeljack was. As the group silently headed to the garage - which wasn't an easy feat being that their footsteps were loud enough for everyone to hear - the agent continued to talk to the medic about what's going down.

Agent Fowler: _"Whatever the case, this is the opening we need. I have already informed Bryce about this and he's sending a strike force to infiltrate that facility and rescue the kids. They'll be there within the hour. I'll update you when they complete the rescue operation. In the meantime, you and the other Autobots remain in your base at all times. I can't have Bryce giving me an earful of news that you all were out of the base and taking on cons in civilian areas."_

Ratchet nodded and ended the conversation.

Ratchet: "Understood Fowler. Let us know when you've managed to save the kids."

Fowler nodded and turned off his comm channel along with the other windows he used to show Team Prime. The moment that was over, the medic sighed to himself and felt a little relieved.

Ratchet: "That's one bit of good news I'm glad to hear about. I just hope all of you won't do anything stupid and perform a rescue of your own."

He turned away from the console to see the rest of his teammates. But when he did that, he noticed that no one was there, and the whole place was empty. He looked both ways and wondered what happened to them.

Ratchet: "Huh… Where did they go?"

* * *

In the garage, Wheeljack had been busy making the repairs needed for his Jackhammer. Not only had he brought his navigational system online and patched up the thrusters, but he also installed the ED on his ship as well. Since his ship runs on energon, the cons would have been able to track it and shoot it down like before. And that's the last thing he wanted. Having someone shooting a missile at him again would be a major pain in his aft. After getting everything fixed up, he headed to his pilot controls and started to test the ignition.

Wheeljack: "All right girl. This is it. Don't let me down…"

He started to type down a few keys to begin the ignition and pressed the icon to start the ship. He waited a few seconds until the ship started to hum to life and the engines began warming up. He looked at the screen to check the diagnostics of the ship and whether it showed any problems. Once he saw that everything was all green and was operational, he gave a small smile and was pleased with it all.

Wheeljack: "There we go. Good as new. Not even Starscream's missiles won't put you down that easily."

As he was enjoying his own celebration, he heard a voice of a certain femme calling him.

Arcee: "Wheeljack!"

The Wrecker turned back to see who's calling him out and left the pilot seat. The moment he was at the exit of his ship, he saw Team Prime all gathered together, waiting for him. Noticing all of them present, he still smiled and gave them the good news.

Wheeljack: "Nice to see the whole gang is here. Got some good news for all of ya. The Jackhammer is repaired and fully operational."

Arcee smiled and liked where this was going.

Arcee: "Good. Because we got the location of MECH's base and where our friends have been taken. We need to leave immediately."

Jackie tilted his head and was a little shocked by this news.

Wheeljack: "Seriously? This soon? And I was just getting myself comfortable around here.

The two-wheeler sighed and decided to not continue with the conversation.

Arcee: "Just get your ship flying so we can be on our way. I'll give you the coordinates once we're in the air."

The Wrecker nodded and decided to begin the rescue mission.

Wheeljack: "You got it! All right bots, final boarding call! Everybody inside or you'll miss the flight!"

The rest of the team nodded and headed right inside the Jackhammer. But before they could get in, they all heard a very familiar voice.

Ratchet: "Hold it right there! What do all of you think you're doing?"

They all stopped dead in their tracks the moment they heard that voice and turned around. That's when they saw Ratchet standing there, with his arms crossed and had a sour look on his face. The team was shocked to see him there as Arcee said her ever-famous one liner.

Arcee: "Scrap…"

Smokescreen then joined in and could agree with her.

Smokescreen: "Tell me about it Arcee. Busted."

Ratchet glared at them as they were getting ready to board the ship and wanted some answers.

Ratchet: "What is the meaning of this? I want answers, now!"

The whole team looked at each other and knew they had to tell him the truth. So Arcee stepped in and started talking to him.

Arcee: "Ratchet, I know what this looks like. But you have to understand that we need to do this."

After listening to what she was saying, his optics grew wide and now he knew what they're going to do.

Ratchet: "You're going to rescue those humans, aren't you?"

The femme lowered her head and looked away before giving him an answer.

Arcee: "Yes, we are. And for your information Ratchet, those humans are our friends. Don't you dare say that they are nothing."

The medic now was angrier than ever as he tried to talk them out of it.

Ratchet: "Have you all lost your processors?! We have orders to remain in this base until further notice! You can't go out there just so you can save them. They aren't part of this team anymore! Besides, Fowler said that a strike force is on their way to MECH's base of operations and they will rescue them. Let the humans save their own kind for all I care!"

Arcee then turned her head back to him and argued back at what he thought.

Arcee: "No! You don't get it do you, Ratchet? This is MECH we're talking about! Not only are they a dangerous group, but they also have the tendency to leave without a trace. The moment word got out that a strike force was coming to rescue our friends, MECH would leave the area in a matter of kliks, leaving no evidence behind. Meaning that they will still have the kids and we would never see them again. This is our one chance of saving them, and with or without your approval, we will rescue them."

Ratchet heard everything the femme said and still thought they were wasting their time.

Ratchet: "Even if you're going to rescue them, have you even thought about what happens when the Decepticons start finding you?"

Arcee: "As a matter of fact, we have. Here, catch!"

With that said, she tossed a small object straight to the medic. Ratchet was able to grab the small object with his servo and took a closer look at it. What he saw was a small device with a blinking red light on it. It was obvious that it was none other than Wheeljack's Energon Dampener. Arcee then started to tell him about it.

Arcee: "Wheeljack has given us these Energon Dampeners he made to hide our signatures from the cons. He was going to hand them to us when he was done with his repairs, before leaving the base, but since he heard the news of our friends' kidnapping, he decided to help us out and gave us the EDs. If I were you, I would install one into yourself if you ever consider going for a drive."

Staring at this, Ratchet couldn't believe that Wheeljack invented these devices to hide their signatures, and never mentioned it until now. But he wasn't nearly as upset about that as he was angry at the fact that they were leaving the base just to save their human friends. He looked up at them and told them it's a bad idea.

Ratchet: "Even if you have a way of hiding your signatures, I still think this rescue is unacceptable. You can't risk your own sparks just so you can save them. The military will rescue the kids and put them someplace safe. We cannot have any more innocent lives taken by the enemy, human or Decepticon. You should know that."

That's when Arcee had it with him and gave him a clear understanding.

Arcee: "No, you don't get it do you? These kids sacrificed everything to help our cause. They were willing to give up their own lives just so we could bring our planet back to its full glory, something that neither we nor Optimus wanted. They've done so much for us in the past. Now we have to save them not because we want to, but because we need to. And even if we have to risk our own sparks just to save them, then so be it."

She started to turn her back to Ratchet and head into the ship. Still, Ratchet could not let them go without a strict warning.

Ratchet: "If you enter that ship and leave the base, I swear to you by Primus's name that there will be some strict consequences!"

Arcee paid no heed as she headed into the ship, but she still responded to his threat.

Arcee: "Then if that's the case, I will take those consequences under Optimus's name, standing by Jack's side."

The group looked on and decided to follow her advice. As long as they suffer these consequences, at least their human friends will be by their side. So they too entered the ship and were ready to leave as well. In the ship, Wheeljack was at the pilot seat while Bulkhead was at the passenger side. The others were in the back standing since there were no other seats and the back was a little compact due to the size of the ship. But that didn't matter to them as they had other things in mind, mainly saving their friends from MECH's claws. As Jackie warmed up the engines, he looked back at the others and told them to hang on.

Wheeljack: "Sorry I don't have any extra seats for all of you. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting any guests on my ship. Though I got to warn you, when we're in the air, this will be a little bumpy."

Arcee looked at the Wrecker and wasn't in a good mood to talk.

Arcee: "Just get us where we need to be, Wheeljack. Any nanoclick we waste, the kids lives are in danger."

Wheeljack nodded and started to activate the ship. In a matter of moments, the Jackhammer lifted itself off of the ground and levitated while a pair of metallic doors opened up in front of it. In a matter of seconds, the thrusters started to burst and the ship took off, causing the medic to stagger back. When he saw them leave, he grunted and was sickened by it.

Ratchet: "Typical…"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Jackhammer flew through the tunnel as the guide lights streaked by on either side. The team looked through the front window, trying to hang on while standing up, wondering when that tunnel was going to end. That's when they noticed the ceiling not far from them opening up in the front. Outside, everything was quiet in the woods and nothing was out of the ordinary. But then the floor started to open up with the trees on top of it. As it fully opened, the Jackhammer got out of the tunnel and flew high into the air heading towards its destination.

* * *

Back inside the base, Ratchet stormed into the command center and was fuming on what the team just did.

Ratchet: "I cannot believe this! What were those glitch heads thinking? I swear the moment they come back, they will be cleaning the energon tanks for decacycles on end. They should know better that the children are no longer our responsibility, given the fact that the cons have made everything more complicated for us."

As he was contemplating the situation they were all in, there was a strange beeping noise coming from the computers. Curious, he decided to check it out to see what it was. Typing a few key sequences, he noticed something strange, very strange.

Ratchet: "That's odd… I'm getting four different energon signatures and it's coming from the MECH's base in Tennessee. That never happened before. Wonder what they are doing in there? Let's see…"

He typed a few more key sequences to see who these signatures belonged to. After looking through data, his optics blinked and was a little confused.

Ratchet: "What the…"

He rechecked the data again to see if it's all accurate. From what he could understand, those energon signatures belonged to Jack, Raf, Miko, and June. He was quite surprised by this and didn't know what to think.

Ratchet: "This doesn't make any sense! These energon signatures belonged to the kids and June. How's that possible?! Humans don't carry energon in their bodies! What's MECH doing down there?"

* * *

Down at MECH's base, The Director was in the spotlight while Commander Rourke and Professor Sumdac were behind him. In front of them were the MECH Board of Directors on the many TV screens with blank avatars and a big screen showing the video that recorded the project from beginning to end. Ever since the success of his project, the Director sent in e-mail messages to each of the board members to give them the good news and set up a meeting to show his work. The board watched intently to see the project with their own eyes. Though there were some things that were a little off, they saw the end results and were fascinated by it. As they were watching the video, the Director started to talk to them about it.

Director: "As you can see, members of the board, Project Metamorphosis has done the impossible. While Silas can only create a lifeless shell, I have created robots that have a body, mind, and soul. Though there was a slight hiccup at the end, the project managed to pass with flying colors. Such a grand achievement, wouldn't you say?"

There was a bit of silence until the first board member spoke up.

MECH Board Member 1: _"Indeed Director… This is quite an accomplishment you've done for the cause. But this hiccup, this power fluctuation that happened in your third phase, could that be a problem?"_

The Director responded with the blankest of expressions.

Director: "Not entirely. What I was able to learn was that the generators this prison had in the back couldn't sustain such power levels, which led to an EMP blast that got this facility in a temporary blackout. It didn't have that much grounding and could only run on electrical power, making the process too strong for it to take. If I can continue with an alternative power source, then there won't be any problems with the fluctuations."

The fourth member agreed with him, followed by one more thing he noticed at the start.

MECH Board Member 4: _"Agreed. There are a various power sources that could be useful for this project. You have to choose wisely in the type of power you might need. But still, I didn't like your choice of test subjects. With the exception of the adult woman, the rest were nothing but kids in the mid to early teens."_

The Director was a little silent when hearing this and decided to clear the air on that issue.

Director: "While the choices I made for the types of test subjects were a tad extreme, I had my reasons for using them. You see, these four individuals had close ties with the Autobots and an encounter with MECH in one way or another. The older boy and his mother were the prime example, due to a kidnapping involving Silas and the Decepticon called Airachnid. Plus their skills and experience made excellent choices for my experiment. What better way to try my project out than by using the Autobots' own friends."

MECH Board Member 1: _"And how are the test subjects faring after the procedure."_

Director: "Still recovering. All four of them are still sleeping in their berths, going through a deep recharge. Think of them as a new cellphone you bought. It needs to be recharged so it will be ready to use. Given the process of the project and how big they are, it will take them some hours before they will wake up from their slumber and familiarize themselves with their surroundings. It will take some time for them to adjust, but I'm sure that they will prove they have surpassed Chimera under all levels."

There was some silence within the room as the board was talking to themselves. After a private chat, the first board member stepped in and told him what they think.

MECH Board Member 1: _"Well Director, aside from the power and the choice of test subjects you've picked I do believe your project is a sheer success. More so than Silas's failed project. But we need to work on some ground rules first before you continue. You need to find an alternative power source. The fluctuation from your test caused a small blackout throughout the town of Tennessee. This could alert our enemies to your presence. You need to find an alternative power source, one that won't cause any disturbance. And second, if you want to use test subjects for your project, let us know about it beforehand. Using these civilians, let alone young kids, is unacceptable. We will be providing you with the soldiers necessary for your project, but if you insist on using anyone that is important to you, let us know. Understood?"_

The Director nodded slowly and agreed with him.

Director: "Of course sir, I understand clearly."

MECH Board Member 1: _"Excellent! Continue with your work Director. I do believe that this project of yours will ultimately change the world. This meeting is adjourned."_

The moment he said that, all the screens were turned off and the lights went back on. The Director then looked up at the blank screens and smiled to himself at what the board had said.

Director: "This is perfect…"

* * *

Minutes later, the three were walking down the hallway contemplating the meeting they had with the board. Rourke talked to the Director about it and wondered about the next course of action.

Commander Rourke: "It would seem that the board was pleased with your project, sir."

Director: "Indeed they were pleased, commander. But we need to tie up some loose ends before we can continue."

Commander Rourke: "What do you want me to do?"

Director: "First order of business is finding a new facility, one with an alternative power source. We can't have another blackout debacle from the first test. We also need to start packing all the equipment from the project as well, and prepare to leave this facility. With the power fluctuation that burned out the electricity throughout and around here, there's no doubt that the military will be looking into this and sending their troops to investigate. Send some scouts within a ten-mile radius and have them secure every road that goes into here. If they see any military soldiers, they will let us know."

Commander Rourke: "Roger that sir. I'll get on it right away."

As they were talking, Professor Sumdac was slowly walking behind them. After what he had seen for the past few hours, he was worried about these innocent people that were being used as test subjects for the Director's science project. First turning them from human beings into lifeless energon and into huge robots still haunted him and he felt a little guilty about what he did. But now that the test was over and the project was a success, he wondered what was going to happen to them. Curious, he looked at the Director and asked him about it.

Professor Sumdac: "Uh Director, can I ask you something?"

The head of the science division answered him while walking and with his back turned to him.

Director: "Go ahead professor, we're all in this together."

The professor thought of how to ask his question and said it in the simplest way possible.

Professor Sumdac: "Well since this project of yours has surpassed Silas's, what's going to happen to the test subjects?"

Both the Director and Rourke stopped in their tracks as they peeked behind them.

Director: "And why do you want to know that?"

Professor Sumdac: "Just wondering is all."

The Director turned to the side and told him what he's going to do with the Autobots' friends.

Director: "Once they are done recharging, we will do an examination to understand their biology. Test their weapons systems, understanding how they scan for vehicles and transform, how strong their armor is, dissect them to see how they are operational, just about anything we can so we'll know any strengths or weaknesses for our soldiers."

Sumdac looked at him oddly and was concerned with what he had said.

Professor Sumdac: "Examination? Dissection? You mean you're going to kill them?"

There was a slight chuckle as the head of the science division explained it thoroughly.

Director: "You're over exacerbating yourself professor. I'm not going to kill them, not since they have survived the grueling procedure from beginning to end. I just want to get into a deeper understanding about these alien robots and understand what makes them special. As a scientist, I have to be sure that my new army will be at tip top shape."

Professor Sumdac: "But these people you were using for your project are just civilians. Regular people that have family, friends, lives, and bright futures ahead of them. And just like that, you took everything from them just for this grand achievement of yours. Don't you think that maybe we can reverse the process so they can get back to normal and live the lives they want?"

The Director paused for a second and wasn't expecting that line of questioning.

Director: "Reverse it? Did you really think that after all those months of research and construction to bring forth these wonderful creations, that I would have something that could reverse the condition they're in?"

The professor's eyes were in a blank stare as he realized what the Director meant.

Professor Sumdac: "You mean to tell me that we can't bring them back to normal?"

The Director sighed to himself and answered that.

Director: "I'm afraid so professor. You see, I never considered reversing their condition, since my main focus was to create robotic soldiers for our cause. Even if I was to create something to return them to normal, they wouldn't survive the procedure. So I'm sorry to say that they will remain in their new forms for a long, long time."

Sumdac was speechless when he heard that and couldn't believe his ears. Not only had he turned civilians into Cybertronians, but there was no way of reversing the changes. It was too much even for him to take as the Director continued talking to him.

Director: "Besides, how are they going to live their normal lives? Their friends are the Autobots and they protected them until today. Not only that, but their homes in Jasper were attacked by these Decepticons, leaving them completely homeless. We don't even know whether their families made it out of that town, or were killed. So I do believe their normal lives are shattered forever. But we shouldn't dwell on the past, professor; we should look to the future and put my master plan into effect."

The professor perked up and he heard his boss and wondered what he meant by that.

Professor Sumdac: "Master plan?"

The Director nodded and responded back.

Director: "Indeed Professor Sumdac. Project Metamorphosis is just the beginning. Soon, once we have everything we need, my plan will take effect. And once that happens, the fate of MECH will change forever."

This was too much for the professor to take as he tried to reason with the head scientist.

Professor Sumdac: "This project is just a beginning? A master plan? Changing the fate of MECH? Director, are you trying to turn all of this into some kind of war?"

The Director remained silent for a moment when the professor asked that question. He then slowly approached Sumdac and cleared up some things.

Director: "Let me make things clear, so even you can understand. You see, we've been through wars ever since the dawn of time. And even though our weapons have changed, as time passed, our motives are still the same. So, while you were busy building Rock em' Sock em' Robots, I was creating chemical weapons for insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Don't try to judge me on whether we're going to war or not. We are already at war, and this invasion in Jasper Nevada proves it. We need to pull out all of the stops just so we can not only defend ourselves, but also to take it on the offensive. That's what this project is all about. If we are to survive, we need to work together and stop this, once and for all."

He gently patted Sumdac on the cheek and walked away from him, rejoining Commander Rourke. As the two walked away, Sumdac was in complete bewilderment. He kept repeating the Director's words in his head and didn't know what to do. He builds robots for a living just for peaceful applications. But since helping MECH with this new project, he was beginning to have second thoughts in his latest work. He doesn't want to create robots for war and this little talk proved it. He had to do something and he has to do it now. So he mustered up what courage he had and told the Director straight out.

Professor Sumdac: "If that's what you want Director, then you're on your own. I want out."

The Director stopped dead in his tracks and heard those three words. But he had a little trump card in his possession that will keep the professor on a tight leash. So with a small smirk, he asked Sumdac about something.

Director: "Tell me something professor, how is your daughter?"

Sumdac lifted his head up and heard that question. He never talked about his daughter in front of everyone and the Director knew about it. How has he heard of her? Who told him? As he was thinking about it, the Director continued talking.

Director: "The young lady just turned sixteen a month ago did she not? I can imagine what she looks like, probably resembles her mom. It's a shame that her mother died in that accident eight years ago. It must be hard for her to live a life without a mother. Much more being that she doesn't know what you're really doing. Oh yes. I know that you spent months talking to your girl on this side project you've been doing. I could imagine what her reaction would be like when she realizes that you've been building weapons for war. It would break her young heart."

The professor heard that and was irate about it. The Director knows of his daughter and what happened to her mother. Not only that, but he's threatening him that he would hurt his daughter if he doesn't work for him. It was then that the professor threatened his boss.

Professor Sumdac: "Leave her out of this Director! She doesn't know what I'm really doing and I can't let her get involved in all of this."

The Director turned to him and went on with the conversation.

Director: "Is that so? Then why don't we make an agreement here? If you help me with my work, then your daughter will be safe. If not, well at least she can rejoin her mother in that other place. Do we have a deal?"

The professor hung his head low and didn't know what to do. He doesn't want to help MECH create World War Three, but he doesn't want his daughter to get hurt. So with no other option left, he gave a deep sigh and made his decision.

Professor Sumdac: "All right fine… I'll do it. Even if it means protecting my own daughter, I'll help you."

The Director smiled and was proud with the professor's decision.

Director: "Splendid! Now get back to work. We've got a lot take care of before we can continue with my grand plan."

The Director walked away from the professor as Commander Rourke soon followed. Sumdac remained where he was, completely tormented by this unexpected turn of events. He slowly took out his wallet and opened it up, showing an old picture of his wife, Natasha, with long red hair and light chocolate skin. In her arms was a young infant with the same peach fuzz red hair and skin. He touched that picture with his fingertips and a tear came to his eye.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh Natasha… My dear sweet Sari… What have I done?"

* * *

**That has taken care of chapter five. Another short one in the books. Though I got to warn ya, the next few chapters could be a little longer based on the action sequences I might put together. Other then that, it's going to be interesting in the next chapter. Not to mention that I'm going to add another character into the mix. I'm pretty sure you already know who it is based on the end of this chapter. Well, stay tune to see what happens next! Please Review.**


	6. Distraction

**The next chapter is primed and ready to read. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. With college work in the way it's not easy trying to update these stories one chapter at a time. Not only that, but I'm going to add another Transformers Prime story soon. It would take place during season two and it involves Jack's father. I'm not going to tell you much yet since I'm a little secretive about my stories. However, I should let you know that it's a crossover of an anime show I watched. Trust me, once I publish it, you will see where I'm going with it. Now let's see what happened while I was away. I got to say I'm becoming quite the popular one in the Fanfiction community. I have seventeen reviews on the last chapter and a total of 84 reviews throughout the whole story. Not only that, but my hit counter for my last chapter is up to over 1,000 hits with a total of almost 20,000 hits. I got to say, I'm quite pleased with all of this. I say this story got everyone's attention. Wonder if the folks in Hasbro are reading this? Maybe they would have some second thoughts in their version of season three and come to me for help. But I digress since these are Fanfiction stories and there could be some copyright laws between me and Hasbro. But here's hoping that this story can get me to the top. Time for chapter six of TFP S3 E1 and let me tell you, this is going to be interesting. Team Prime infiltrates MECH's base of operations with the help of an unlikely ally. But as they were looking for their friends, they weren't expecting the unexpected.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Well, it was going to happen since a few readers were asking about it. Yes, Sari is going to be in this chapter. But here are some things I need to do with this Sari. For one thing, this Sari is going to be human for half the season. I got an interesting idea on what to do with her halfway through and want to coax her into the Transformers Prime universe slowly. Still, I don't want to spoil too much in one go, but it would be vaguely familiar with the Transformers Animated series, another show I liked to watch. Another thing I want to change is her attire. Though I like the futuristic sundress she had on, especially in her teenage form, I think it would be a little bit off the top. Instead, I decided on an outfit I saw on DeviantArt. You're welcome to see it if you want. Here's the link to that picture, ( cafcow . deviantart art / Movieverse – Sari – 131899441). You just have to remove the spaces when you do a copy and paste since Fanfiction has the audacity to remove these links in chapters for no reason. Lastly, since I added the Director from Red vs. Blue into the chapter (and yes thanks random guest for writing to me about the Director's message is similar to the Director of that series) I've decided to add some cameos of other Red vs. Blue characters. Think of it as Easter eggs the folks at 343 Industries did on their Halo 4 Spartan Ops episodes. I'm pretty sure you have to guess who the first two are. Here's a quick hint, they hate each other.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime, or any characters from Red vs. Blue in this or future chapters.**

Chapter Six: Distraction

* * *

_Isaac Sumdac's Journal Entry_

_Date: April 14th 20XX_

_I don't really know where to begin here. I was hired by the Director to help with this project he's been working on for quite some time. But lately, I'm having some serious second thoughts about all of this. I mean, creating a robotic soldier is one thing, but turning innocent civilians, kids no less, into this alien substance called energon and recreating them into robots is beyond my understanding. He didn't want to reverse their conditions, meaning they have to be like that for the rest of their lives. How can he think of that when they had lives before this?_

_Just to add insult to injury, he was forcing me to continue helping him with his so called master plan. Even dragging my daughter into this predicament as well! How did he know about my daughter? I don't understand that. I haven't told Sari about this little operation I've been working on for the past few months. Been lying to her that it was a side project I've been working on with a client. If she finds out the truth behind what I'm doing, then I'll never forgive myself. What's worse yet is that if I don't help the Director with this project for him, then he'll have no choice than to hurt my daughter, or worse. I lost my wife in an accident years ago; I cannot lose my dear Sari. She's the only family I have left. But I also don't want these people that were used as test subjects to be treated like lab rats. They could get hurt during the many tests, if not die from these experiments. I have to do something; I have to help them escape. If it would mean that it would cost me this job, then so be it._

* * *

It was late at night in the correctional facility that MECH was using as a base of operations. In and out of the prison, soldiers were on high alert keeping watch over the entire area. There were tanks around the prison entrance in case an enemy tried to get in. Up in the watch towers multiple anti-aircraft missile launchers kept an eye in the sky. And searchlights shone inside and outside the perimeter. Long story short, it was heavily guarded. Not far from them on the hilltop, Team Prime was keeping watch on the place to see if there was a way in. After leaving the base, Arcee had given Wheeljack the location of MECH's facility and they reached it in no time. They were thankful that the Energon Dampener was able to hide their signatures from any Decepticons and they made the entire trip undetected. The group was keeping a tight watch on the area with Wheeljack using his high tech binoculars to get a closer look at the place. As they kept watch, Smokescreen looked up at his ED, hidden in one of his door wings and was still a little unsure.

Smokescreen: "You're sure that these ED's you created are working?

Jackie turned to the Elite Guard member and sighed with an answer.

Wheeljack: "Well I don't see any cons chasing our tail pipes. So it looks like it's working real well."

Smokescreen looked right at Wheeljack and groaned about it, deciding to ignore him. Jackie then looked at the facility and wasn't impressed by it.

Wheeljack: "So these are the new enemies you told me about huh? They don't look so tough."

The femme turned to him and explained about their enemy thoroughly.

Arcee: "Don't judge a Scraplet by how cute it is, Wheeljack. Though MECH is human, they are just as dangerous as cons. They are nothing but a bunch of terrorists that would use the most advanced hardware for their own gain."

Bulkhead: "Yeah and Judging by the looks of it, they are pulling out all the stops. No Autobot could withstand that onslaught."

Arcee: "Or Decepticon. After the news of what happened to Jasper, it would seem that almost everyone is on edge, including MECH."

Smokescreen: "So, how are we going to approach this? I mean it's not like we can walk up to them, knock on the front door, and say, _'Hello! We're Autobots. Can we have our friends back?'_"

As they were talking about it, Bumblebee was looking at the base itself to see if there were any openings for them to bypass. But as he was looking around, he noticed something off. The scout didn't spy much else, but it looked like there were multiple semis in the back, with men moving some kind of equipment into most of them and the rest sat still, empty. Noticing that, he pointed to the trucks and beeped to them about what he saw.

Bumblebee: _**(Well we better get them out of there and fast. It looks like they are packing up and ready to leave.)**_

That got Arcee's attention and was a little confused by it.

Arcee: "What?"

Curious, she took the binoculars from Wheeljack to check for herself. Upon closer examination, she too noticed the trucks with the equipment already inside half of them with the other half still waiting to get packed. Noticing it, she cursed and realized things have gotten worse.

Arcee: "Scrap! You're right Bee. Looks like MECH's about to fly the coop. Guess that blackout caused by them got the military's attention after all. If they leave with the kids and June, then we won't be able to find them again."

Bulkhead: "And how are we going to get in? You heard what Smokescreen said. That place is just as heavily fortified as the weapons depot in Axiom Nexus. Do you have any idea how we're going to get in without them noticing us?"

The two-wheeler rubbed her chin and tried to think this one through.

Arcee: "I'm thinking. I'm thinking. Aaargh! Sure wish we had Optimus here to give us a plan. He's the one with the strategies in his processor. Without him we won't stand a chance."

As she was thinking up a way in without getting detected, Wheeljack looked right at the base and thought of something else. He could tell that with all those weapons they were packing, it wouldn't be an easy feat. However, if they were a little preoccupied, then it would give them a chance to break in. That's when it hit him.

Wheeljack: "I got an idea."

The femme looked at the Wrecker and was interested.

Arcee: "You do?"

He turned to her and nodded as a response.

Wheeljack: "Yep. Judging by the ordnance they carry, they seem to be on constant alert. However, there is one thing that can keep them off their guard, and that is a distraction."

The rest of the Autobots overheard that and turned to look at him just to see what he was saying.

Arcee: "Is that so?"

Wheeljack then got up and turned towards his ship to get a few things. As he was heading into his ship, he started to explain his plan.

Wheeljack: "One thing I learned while in the Wreckers was that a good enough distraction can keep the enemy busy. And what better way to create a distraction than by blowing something up. You do that and MECH will be in a panic frenzy."

Bulkhead: "Sounds like a plan. A little bit of a reach, but a plan nonetheless. So you think your grenade can create that distraction?"

Wheeljack was in his ship looking for something that just might work. But he did hear his friend ask that question and responded back with a simple chuckle.

Wheeljack: "Seriously Bulk? With an army like that, we're going to need a bigger bomb, and my grenades won't do much but give them a little graze."

Arcee: "So what do you have in mind?"

The Wrecker then got out of his ship with a sly smile on his face, holding a detonator of some kind.

Wheeljack: "I say we take a page out of the enemy's playbook. Catch."

He threw the object at Arcee and she caught it with one servo. Once she got a hold of the detonator, she started to inspect it and was completely surprised. From what she could tell, it was a three-point star-like device with a timer-like monitor at the center. Blinking her optics, she could tell what it was.

Arcee: "Hey, is that…"

Wheeljack: "The detonator that Dreadwing uses? You're on the money Arcee. In fact, it's the same detonator that he planted on good old Bulkhead over here."

Bulk blinked and remembered that moment, groaning to himself and was a little jittery by the object in question.

Bulkhead: "Oh, do you really have to remind me about that time Jackie?"

The Wrecker shrugged his shoulders and responded back to him.

Wheeljack: "What can I say? I have a thing with explosives, especially the ones that Decepticons use. Anyways, after I took that off of Bulkhead here I tinkered with it from here to there. What I did was give it a manual timer, meaning it can work without the remote. I then doubled the blast power; that way it would create a huge enough explosion to knock a squad of Insecticons off their feet. With a blast like that, those humans will be a little preoccupied containing it. This will give you the chance to rescue your friends and get out of there in one piece."

Arcee stared at the detonator and smirked to herself. She then looked up to Jackie and was pleased with his work.

Arcee: "I'm really starting to like you, Wheeljack."

Wheeljack: "Hey, just trying to help out any Autobot that's in need of an assist. Oh yeah, one more thing. Even if we have our EDs masking our energon signatures, Soundwave can still track our comms if we ever talk in long distance. So I have an alternative solution to that. Here, take this."

He then approached Smokescreen and placed something in his servo. Smoke opened his hand and looked at some kind of small stick with a button on the top. The Wrecker then backed away and explained what it was.

Wheeljack: "It's a beacon that only the Jackhammer can pick up. Once you find your friends, just press that button on the top and it will send a silent signal to the ship. I'll be there in a matter of cycles."

The team listened to his words and realized what he was saying.

Bulkhead: "Wait a nanoclick. You're not coming with us?"

Wheeljack looked at his friend and answered his question.

Wheeljack: "Well, someone needs to be with the ship at all times and I'm the only one who knows how to pilot the Jackhammer. Besides, you guys still don't have a ground bridge just yet and the way back to your base is a long drive. And with the cons looking for you, it wouldn't be a peaceful road trip."

Everyone looked at each other and realized he was right.

Bumblebee: _**(He does have a point. We don't have any way back to the base and it's miles away.)**_

Smokescreen: "And with no ground bridge and the fact that we are still being hunted down, Wheeljack is our last chance of escaping."

Arcee nodded and turned to Jackie and wanted to know one more thing.

Arcee: "Thanks for all your help Wheeljack, but there's something that's been bothering me as of late. Why are you really helping us? It's not like you would give us everything to save our friends out of just simple kindness or anything."

Jackie smirked and explained why he really is doing this.

Wheeljack: "Well after what Bulk's friend did for me back when she saved my aft from the clutches of Hardshell, I had to return the favor in some way. What better way than right now, huh?"

Arcee smirked and could agree with him for once.

Arcee: "Guess so. Just be there when we retrieve the kids okay?"

The Wrecker nodded and did his own oath.

Wheeljack: "Not a problem. Wrecker's honor."

The femme smirked and was glad that he would be there when they escaped.

Arcee: "Good."

She then turned to the others and told them to move.

Arcee: "All right team, clock's ticking. Let's get in there and rescue our friends. Roll out!"

Soon enough, every bot began to run down the hill until they jumped and transformed into their vehicle modes to ride down the hill just to reach the facility. As they left, Wheeljack looked on and couldn't help but to feel a little sorry for them. They've been through too much already and having to lose the kids from these humans was the icing on the cake. And now this rescue mission would help them repair the damage that happened to them, both physically and mentally. So staring at them leaving, he gave a silent salute and gave them a big farewell until they contacted him.

Wheeljack: "May Primus be with you Team Prime, and good luck."

He then walked away into the Jackhammer and waited for them to respond back to him.

* * *

Back in the MECH facility, everyone was packing up and getting ready to leave. With word of what happened with the blackout around the facility thanks to the Director's experiment, they needed to be prepared in case a military unit came in and stormed the place. But in one of the quarters, there was one person that wasn't worried about all that, only about the four people that had been turned into Cybertronians. In his office, Professor Sumdac was typing down his daily report and giving his own thoughts about the project. But deep in his heart, he felt that none of it was right. He originally wanted to help the Director on his special project, but he didn't expect anything like this. Kidnapping civilians that were mostly children, converging them into energon, altering their genes into a Cybertronian, then turning the energon into those types of robots. This was all too insane for him! Plus neither he nor anyone else could reverse it, because it would be too risky. And then there was this grand plan the Director wanted to put into action. The professor didn't know what this grand plan was, but he didn't like the sound of it one bit.

He tried to tell the Director that he wanted to quit the project, but the head of the Science Division threw a serious curveball at him. The curveball turned out to be his own daughter, Sari. He was surprised at the fact that the Director knew about his daughter, or what happened to her mother. Now the Director was forcing him to continue with this project, and if he were to refuse, then his daughter's life would be in danger. He didn't want Sari to get hurt, let alone have these poor people that were taken being treated like weapons. He had to do something about this situation he was in. But how? As he was thinking about this while typing his report, the cell phone on his desk began to ring. Curious, he picked up the phone and placed it on his ear, answering the caller.

Professor Sumdac: "Hello? This is Professor Sumdac. Who's calling?"

There was a bit of silence until the caller responded back.

Sari: _"Sheesh dad… I can't believe you already forgot about your only daughter."_

The professor's eyes were completely wide and he was surprised at who was calling.

Professor Sumdac: "Sari? Is that you?"

* * *

In the suburban neighborhood in Detroit, there was a two-story condo meant for the well-to-to citizens. Inside the home, a young teen was on her computer doing her school project. Her room was that of an average teenage girl with her bed layered with stuffed animals on one end, a flat screen HDTV, a closet full of clothes for teenagers, a classic jukebox that had been modified to play songs from her iPod, a vanity mirror that has her makeup and accessories, and a state of the art computer with the latest desktop programs. Sitting at the desk was a young girl with light chocolate skin, short red hair with two little pigtails in the back, and the most exceptional blue eyes that made her look a little exotic to everyone. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless top with a black stripe on the side, a brown jacket with long sleeves and a short lower hem, a black choker, faded blue jeans that went down to her feet with a green belt to hold it up, a pair of red Converse sneakers, and a necklace around her neck with something hidden underneath her shirt. It was obvious that this young teen was none other than the daughter of Isaac Sumdac, Sari Sumdac. She just laughed at her father's response and shook her head.

Sari: "Duh, dad. Who would you expect to call you at nine in the evening? Anyways, I'm calling to let you know that I need a little help with my schoolwork. You see, the teacher wants us to do a report on our family history and wanted us to pick a certain member of importance. I wanted to pick you because of your job and what you do for a living. So can you tell me all about yourself?"

She waited for a response from her dad until he responded.

Professor Sumdac: _"Oh I'm sorry Sari, but I'm a little busy at the moment. Maybe you should go online and do your research about me there. I'm sure there's a lot of good information that would help you out."_

Sari groaned to herself and hated that idea.

Sari: "But dad, all those news articles only give me the boring stuff. I just want to get the good stuff from you. I mean you lived through it right?"

Professor Sumdac: _"Even if I could, I don't think I would have the time to tell you. I'm still working on this side project for someone and I need to help him with everything. I don't even know when I'm going to be finished with this project."_

The daughter sighed and rolled her eyes around, thinking that it was another excuse.

Sari: "Oh dad, it's the same excuse as always! Ever since you've taken part in this side project, you've been absent all day. You're never home, you never call, and you miss out on all the things that are far more important than this. Remember that parent teacher conference you were supposed to go to? You didn't show up! Even when you came for my sweet sixteen birthday party, you're always on the phone with your client on this project and spending little time with me. It's like you care more about your work and less about your family."

* * *

Sari: _"What are you doing down there that's so important?"_

Isaac sighed to himself and didn't know what to say. Ever since taking part in MECH, he had to keep everyone in the dark about this project, and that included his daughter. And now he's being forced to work on this project or pay a serious price in Sari's life. He didn't want that on his conscience, not since the death of his wife. So he took a deep breath and lied to her the best he could.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh it's nothing sweetie. It's just a project involving the building of a new form of robot. There's nothing to worry about."

Sari: _"Well you sound a little worried. Is there something wrong that you might want to talk about?"_

Now the professor was a little worried, as he could tell that his daughter was sensing the tension in his voice. But he couldn't tell her the truth because it would endanger both of their lives. So he continued the lie.

Professor Sumdac: "Well, it's my client. He said that I have to work longer than I was expecting. Not to mention his staff is a little strict with this side project. Plus my client added something to the project that I didn't like at all. It's been a big mess for me."

* * *

Professor Sumdac: _"I don't know what to do."_

Sari heard his little lie and believed him. She felt sorry for what he's going through now. But being that she is his daughter, she decided to lighten up the mood and told her father what he should do.

Sari: "Seriously dad? You're asking me? I'm not the voice of reason here you know. But if I were you I would go up to your client and say, 'Do you know who I am? I am the one that made robots the next big thing. Who do you think you are, pushing me around like I'm a lackey? You have no respect for your superiors! I quit!'"

She could hear her father chuckle on the other line and could tell he was enjoying her impersonation.

Professor Sumdac: _"That's sound great Sari, but I don't think that my client is that easy to fool."_

She then slumped on her chair and thought of something else.

Sari: "Well… If I were in your shoes, I think I would do what's right for myself. You know, like fix something that you did wrong or help someone in need. That kind of stuff."

* * *

Sari: _"At least that's what I'm thinking."_

The professor smiled and thought that she was right. If he can't face his client on this, then he has to do what's right. All he needs is to figure out what to do. So he took a deep breath and responded back to her.

Professor Sumdac: "Thank you for your advice Sari. I'll try to think about what you said. Now I have to finish this report for my client so he won't think I'm wasting my time. Do your report and go to bed early. I love you Sari."

There was a brief silence until he heard his daughter finishing the conversation.

Sari: _"Thanks dad. I love you too."_

The moment she said that, the professor hung up the phone and continued with his report, thinking about what to do. But what he didn't know was that something was about to happen that would change his life even more and help him in this dilemma.

* * *

Outside the prison walls, there were spotlights peering left and right searching for anything out of the ordinary as a few guards were stationed in sections on the outside. Not far from them, the Autobots drove down the hill in their vehicle forms and approached a good enough hiding spot to be away from MECH. Once they parked, they transformed into their bipedal modes and took a quick peek to see what they were in for. When they saw the brick wall that was protecting the prison, Arcee gave a stern look and could tell that this was the place.

Arcee: "There it is. MECH's secret base of operations. This is where they are keeping our friends."

Just as she said that, a spotlight was heading to their position. They immediately ducked down and hid behind a rock wall so that they wouldn't get detected. Once hidden, they started to formulate a plan.

Smokescreen: "So now what do we do? Can't go in there blasters blazing, 'cause that would be suicidal."

Bulkhead: "At least Wheeljack gave us Dreadwing's detonator to help create a diversion to get us in. We just need to plant it someplace and blow it up."

Bumblebee looked at Bulkhead and wondered about that plan.

Bumblebee: _**(And where are we going to put it? With a place that big, it won't be easy finding a good spot to plant the explosive.)**_

Arcee heard that and snickered to herself, thinking that it wasn't that impossible. She then turned to him and told him to not worry.

Arcee: "Don't sweat it Bee, I think I know a good place to place the charge."

The scout turned to her and was wide-eyed about her response.

Bumblebee: _**(You do?)**_

The two-wheeler nodded and gave off a small smile to him. She then went serious and turned back to the barrier to find a good opening while explaining her plan.

Arcee: "Back on Cybertron, my team was on a mission to free Autobots in a prison camp from the darkest part of Kaon. Like this place, the camp was heavily fortified and impossible to get in. There was however one thing they didn't count on, the attack on their power generators. From what our Intel gathered, the generators connected to the prison camp were unprotected due to safety protocols. It was the opening we needed. With enough explosives and skills, we managed to infiltrate the generators and blew it sky high. The destruction of the generators caused a huge blackout in the camp, creating enough chaos and confusion on the cons. This helped us break into the camp easily and freed the Autobots held captive."

Everyone listened in on Arcee's story and realized what she wanted to do.

Bulkhead: "You're not thinking about pulling that same plan you pulled back on Cybertron, are you?"

She turned to the Wrecker and responded to his question.

Arcee: "Seems like a fair option. I took a good look at this prison since before we left the Jackhammer and noticed a separate building at the end of the facility. So it's obvious that this detached building could be the generator room that powers the entire facility. We blow that up, MECH will be too busy trying to contain it, giving us an opportunity to search the facility and save the kids and June."

Smokescreen looked up at the prison walls and could tell it wouldn't be an easy feat. As they were looking at it, another spotlight came to their position and they ducked down to avoid being spotted.

Smokescreen: "Yeah, easier said than done. With all that heat in there, it would be impossible reaching that building. This would've gotten a whole lot smoother if I had my Phase Shifter with me."

The femme looked right at the Elite Guard member and told him that won't be necessary.

Arcee: "Who needs an Iacon relic when you have stealth on your side? I'll take the lead and go in there alone while you all remain here. Won't be a picnic with the three of you causing trouble."

Bulkhead: "You're sure you can do this on your own?"

Arcee gripped the explosive charge in her servo while answering her teammate.

Arcee: "I've been through many solo missions before joining Team Prime Bulk, I think I know what I'm doing. Just wait for my signal."

The second she said that, she jumped and transformed into her motorcycle mode and sped to the wall. As she left the three, Smokescreen blinked his optics and thought of what she said.

Smokescreen: "What signal was she talking about?"

Bumblebee: _**(Don't know, but I guess we have to wait and see.)**_

* * *

A few minutes later, a lone soldier was scanning the area outside the prison walls and noticed that it was clear. He then rendezvoused back to the others to see how they were faring. What he didn't know was that as he was leaving, Arcee came to the scene in her motorcycle mode and slowly drove to the wall. As she was driving next to it, she immediately transformed and slowly put her back to the wall, sneaking her way around the complex, avoiding the spotlights that were scanning the area. She then stopped at the end of the corner to take a quick peek. She spied a small group of soldiers gathered around talking about recent events. She looked up at the wall and saw a tower with a search light scanning the outside, and barbed wire lining the top.

Noticing that this spotlight only scanned the outside not the inside, she knew that was the best way in. Just then, her receptors picked up the sounds of a car engine coming her way. Turning to her left, she caught a green sports car heading her way with a MECH soldier peeking out of the roof scanning the area. But in a matter of seconds, the car went past the area where Arcee once stood. That's because Arcee made a quick jump and landed on top of the wall in a crouching stance, keeping her head low from the guards present at the tower. With the car passing below her, she looked back to see if the coast was clear. Noticing a soldier with his back turned, the two-wheeler used her blades to cut the barb wires lest she got stuck in the mess, and jumped off the wall, performing a somersault in the air and landing on her feet. Once on the ground, she made a quick dash to the generator building, seconds before the MECH soldier turned around, and headed to a shadowy spot where Arcee stood still.

Slowly she sneaked her way through the facility and started to search for the building that housed the generators. As she was reaching her destination, she encountered some serious obstacles. When she went past one of the sleeping quarters for the soldiers, she spotted what appeared to be a tank driving through the path with four soldiers around it. She cautiously waited for them to pass, hiding behind the quarters. Once they passed, she got out and rushed to the generators as quickly as possible. She then spotted a few more MECH cars heading her way and had to find someplace to hide fast. Looking up, she spotted a light post above her. With quick reflexes, she jumped, used servos on the light post and her upper strength to climb to the top. She then waited until the cars passed below and disappeared in the distance. After they left, she jumped down and kept running to the building. Turning the corner, she noticed a huge building that looked like some kind of bunker. Looking up she spied a security camera scanning the area at the top of the corner. The femme had to time it just right so she could reach the other building without being spotted. As the camera turned to the left, she transformed into her bike mode and sped her way to the end before it could turn back.

Once she was away from the camera, she transformed back to her robot mode and looked up at the building. She could tell it was a huge building by how wide it was and the many lines that connected it to the others. With a building that big, she wondered how she was going to get in. Looking up, she noticed that one of the windows was opened fully like that of a regular warehouse. Smirking, she knew she found her way in and was about to get in to that window. But just as she was about to get in, she heard two voices in the distance.

Grif: "Hey Simmons? Do you know when we get a break? I'm getting tired from all that walking and standing."

Simmons: "Seriously Grif?! You want to take a break now?"

Arcee quickly turned to her right and saw two lone soldiers, whose names were Simmons and Grif, arguing about something unimportant. They were walking and looking at each other, not fully aware that the two-wheeler was right in front of them.

Grif: "Why of course I want to take a break! I mean we've been on patrol for hours on end and we haven't have any breaks what so ever. Hell, I don't care if it's a coffee break cigarette break, bathroom break or whatever, I just want a break."

Simmons: "Grif, the commander specifically told everyone that there would be no breaks for today or any other day."

Grif: "Since when?"

Simmons: "Since we had that group meeting a few days ago."

Grif stopped walking and was surprised by that.

Grif: "Wait, we talk in those meetings?"

Simmons stopped too and answered him back.

Simmons: "Yes we talk in those meetings. You were even there next to me, remember?"

Grif: "Why yes I was there in that meeting. But I spend most of the meetings sleeping with my mask on."

Simmons sighed to himself and couldn't believe his friend did that.

Simmons: "Well congratulations, Grif. Not only that you've fallen asleep in the meetings, but you missed out on all the stuff that is important. Whoopdi-flipping-doo!"

Grif: "Hey! Those meetings are boring to begin with. I can't help it when the commander's words make me fall asleep. Seriously though, why do we have to have so much security in the place to begin with?"

Simmons: "Because it has something to do with that alien invasion that attacked the small town in Nevada. And with this country on edge after this attack, Commander Rourke wants this facility well protected at all times."

Grif: "Right… Well if aliens were going to attack this planet they would've focused on attacking big cities or military complex's, not a small town in the middle of nowhere."

The two then continued to walk and kept on talking.

Grif: "By the way Simmons, what is going on in this facility? I heard that they were doing some kind of experiment. Do you know anything about it?"

Simmons: "Sorry Grif, but that's under the need to know basis."

Grif: "You mean you don't know."

Simmons: "No… I mean it's top secret."

Grif: "Yeah, you don't know."

Simmons: "Just shut up and scout the area, Grif. I'm not going to have Rourke giving me a beat down because of your laziness."

The two then walked away and disappeared in the distance. What they didn't know was that they were at the spot where Arcee had been standing. Looking for a place to hide, she saw a stack of metal crates to the left, piled on top of each other, a perfect place to hide. She quickly ran to the crates and hid behind them, kneeling down on one knee and peeking out to see when they would leave. After waiting for them to leave, she came out of her hiding spot and was curious about what they said.

Arcee: "MECH is performing an experiment? I don't like the sound of that."

She looked up at the warehouse-like building that housed the generators and found one of the open windows. Knowing that Jack, his friends, and his mom were taken by MECH and now word that they were conducting an experiment, she knew that it wasn't a good sign of things to come. Looking down at Dreadwing's detonated charge, she tightened it with her servo and said something under her breath.

Arcee: "Hold on Jack… I'm coming to rescue you."

* * *

In the main facility of MECH's base, the Director was in his office looking through all the data and reports from his project. He was pleased with the results of his project and was successful with the Board's approval to continue his work. Although he was a little concerned with Professor Sumdac's thoughts on Project Metamorphosis, and his threats to quit the operation. Good thing he put the professor back on track after threatening to harm his daughter if he didn't cooperate. But he still held some serious doubts about Isaac and sensed that there could be some signs of deception in him. He would have to keep a close eye on him and make sure he stays in line. If he doesn't, the head of the science division would have to take some serious steps. As he was thinking about that, there was a knock at the door and he responded.

Director: "Come in."

The door opened and Commander Rourke came in with a tablet in his hand. He approached him at the desk and started to talk about the recent activities.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, I got the latest reports from the project and there is some good news."

The Director looked up at the commander and decided to listen in.

Director: "Go right ahead commander."

Rourke looked at his tablet and decided to give him some of the details.

Commander Rourke: "Well for starters, I've had the science team searching for an alternative power source to continue with Project Metamorphosis. After going through the research and locations to move this project, they have found the perfect power source to replace this one. Here's the data."

He handed the tablet to the Director as he took a good look at it. After reading the information in the tablet he smiled at what was on it.

Director: "Very good. What's the progress on moving Project Metamorphosis?"

Commander Rourke: "We've just about finished transferring the rest of the equipment into the trucks. We'll have everything packed in fifteen minutes."

Director: "And the test subjects? Any progress on them yet?"

The commander shook his head and responded.

Commander Rourke: "Nothing so far. They are still under a deep recharge after the change so there's no telling when they will wake up."

The Director then placed the tablet on his desk and was in deep thought. After thinking this through, he swiveled his chair and talked about that.

Director: "As long as they are in that state, it will be that much easier to transport them to our new facility. As soon as you get the last of the equipment ready for transport, prepare to move our test subjects to the trucks. We still need them to continue the experiment. Understood?"

Rourke listened in to what he said and nodded in approval.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir. I'll get on it right away."

As that was going on, something was about to happen in a big way.

* * *

In the generator building, everything was peaceful as all the turbines were working hard and there wasn't a guard present. But then, someone was coming through the window and into the warehouse-like structure. That someone was the Autobot's own femme ninja, Arcee. After going through the defenses without getting caught, she was able to reach the generators without any trouble. Now all she had to do was plant the detonator that was from Dreadwing and create an explosion big enough to cause chaos and confusion. She started to look around to see where to place it so it could make the greatest explosion. Looking around, she could tell that a good place to plant it was the middle of the building. So she cautiously walked through rows and rows of humming turbines and approached the middle of the room. Scanning that area, she decided to place the detonator in one of the larger generators powering the facility. Approaching its main turbine, she planted the charge and started to initiate the timer. But before she entered the final countdown, she sighed and started to whisper to herself.

Arcee: "All right Wheeljack… Let's hope this works…"

The moment she pressed the button, the charge was armed and the timer started to countdown. Normally, the numbers on the timer were Cybertronian, but it actually said fifteen seconds before detonation. With the timer set, the femme now had to make a mad dash out of there before it exploded.

15, 14, 13, 12, 11…

She quickly transformed and raced her way through the garage door, which was locked for the moment. The two-wheeler then activated her blasters in the back and began to fire away on it.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6…

Each blast created a circular shape on the door and acted like a cutter. Once they made a full cut, the circle like shape tilted forward outside and hit the ground with a metallic thud. She then went through the hole-like exit and sped as fast as her tires could take her.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

The moment the timer reached zero, Dreadwing's explosive charge went off and created a chain reaction with all the generators around it. That in turn caused the whole building to blow up, and in turn created a small mushroom cloud of flames and electricity. The force of the blast pushed every soldier and vehicle back, sending them flying out away from the blast. With the generator building gone, electricity sparked everywhere, and then the power in the facility suddenly turned off.

* * *

In the facility, every area shook violently as the soldiers held on for dear life. The lights in every building went off leaving the place in complete darkness until the emergency lights flickered on. In the main office, the Director and Commander Rourke felt the impact of the blast as the lights above them turned off unexpectedly. Concerned, Rourke contacted the squad leader outside the prison.

Commander Rourke: "What the hell is happening out there?!"

There was a response from the outside as one of the soldiers explained the situation.

MECH Soldier 7: _"Sorry commander, but there was an explosion from the generator building. We lost 85% of power in the facility with auxiliary power working on the doors and terminals. There's panic all over the place and we have a lot of wounded! What are we going to do?"_

Commander Rourke: "Get it together soldier! Contain the fire, get the emergency generators to bring the power back online, and attend to the wounded. I will be there to assess the damage."

He turned off his comm and sighed to himself. The Director, who remained calm throughout the whole experience, got up and asked the commander what happened.

Director: "Something the matter commander?"

Rourke turned to the head scientist and told him the situation.

Commander Rourke: "There appears to have been an explosion in the generator building. Details are unknown."

The Director then stood up and decided to see for himself.

Director: "Then let's see this incident. Shall we?"

* * *

Right around that time, the professor finished up the report and was about to consider the words his daughter told him. But as he was thinking about it, he felt a violent shake in his room and the lights and computer went off. He looked up at the extinguished light and wondered what had just happened. Heading to the door and opening it, he noticed a lot of soldiers running in different directions as if in a panic. Curious by all of this, he quickly asked one of the soldiers going by.

Professor Sumdac: "Excuse me, but what's going on around here?"

That soldier then turned to him and explained what went down.

MECH Soldier 8: "We had an explosion in the generator building that caused the power outage. We're working on the situation even as we speak."

Professor Sumdac: "Is there anything I can help with?"

MECH Soldier 8: "Negative. All scientists with the exception of the Director are supposed to remain in their rooms until further notice. Safety protocols and all. Just remain in your office unless you're needed, all right?"

The professor sighed and nodded to the soldier.

Professor Sumdac: "Okay."

So the soldier left to help out with the others while the professor closed the door and waited in his office.

* * *

Back outside, Team Prime saw the explosion and was amazed that Wheeljack made a charge big enough to decimate a building. But not as surprised as when all the lights in the facility blinked off in a matter of seconds. Seeing all the chaos, Smokescreen looked at his teammates and finally figured it all out.

Smokescreen: "I guess that was the signal."

Bee looked at him with an obvious expression.

Bumblebee: _**(Gee, you think?)**_

But Bulkhead knew what to do and told the others to move.

Bulkhead: "Come on, this is our chance! Let's get in there while MECH is busy!"

The three then got out of hiding and hurried to the wall of the prison. With the spotlights at the towers off, this gave them the chance to break into the prison and free their friends. But there was a problem getting in. Bulkhead solved that problem by turning his servo into a wrecking ball and used all of his strength to destroy the wall in one hit. Once they got their opening, they entered the prison yard and headed to the main building. Luckily for them, no one was present in the field since they were too preoccupied with the fire where the generator building once stood. So they were able to get to the building without any difficulty. As they were looking for a way into the building, they heard metallic footsteps coming from the corner. With Smokescreen taking the lead, he armed his blaster and waited for the chance to strike back. When the moment came, he got out of the corner and aimed his blaster at whoever was on the other end. But as he got out of cover, he saw Arcee with blasters of her own aimed at the Elite Guard's chassis. The two looked at each other and sighed in relief, knowing that they were on the good side. Arcee smirked and responded to the standoff.

Arcee: "Same team, Smoke."

Smokescreen laughed a little and retracted his blaster into his servo.

Smokescreen: "Right. I knew that."

The femme shook her head as she retracted her blasters as well. She then looked at the destroyed hole in the wall and sighed to herself, knowing who did that.

Arcee: "Seriously, Bulk? Did you really have to burst through the wall?"

She turned to the Wrecker for an explanation as he rubbed the back of his helm and nervously laughed.

Bulkhead: "Well, what other way should we get in? Sides, MECH's too busy putting the fire out of that building you blew up. Still, getting into the building is going to be another problem."

Arcee rubbed her chin and remembered what she spotted while getting away from the explosion.

Arcee: "Not likely. I noticed a huge garage door in the back of the prison. The only way for all of us to get in. Bit of a risk, but it's worth a shot."

The three mechs looked at each other and knew it was the only entrance for them. Bulkhead turned to her and told the two-wheeler to help them.

Bulkhead: "Show us."

So the four walked up to the wall and checked to see if there were any enemies around. With Arcee taking the lead, she took them to the garage door she saw when she was getting away from the blast. As they got to the corner in the back, she stopped and gave a gesture for the others to wait. She then peeked to the corner to see the garage door not far from them.

Arcee: "There it is. That's our way in. From what I can tell, that door leads to the garage where they keep all their vehicles for repair. We get in there, we will find our friends."

Smokescreen took a peek as well to see the garage door and smiled.

Smokescreen: "Way to go Cee! So, how do we get in? Blast our way through the door?"

The two-wheeler looked at him and had a sour look on her face.

Arcee: "No! After what just happened recently, we can't use our blasters or any loud weapons to attract attention."

The Elite Guard member looked down to her and wondered what she's thinking.

Smokescreen: "Well then, what's your idea? Wait until they open the door for us?"

The second he said that, they all heard the sound of the garage door opening close to them. They immediately hid at the corner so they wouldn't get caught, as Arcee did a quick check to see who was there. That's when she saw a MECH-like fire truck coming out of the garage, headed to the area where the explosion started. The others looked at the truck too, surprised that the door had opened up for them. Bumblebee looked at Smokescreen and beeped to him about what he said.

Bumblebee: _**(You had to ask, huh?)**_

As soon as the truck left, the garage door started to close. Arcee saw the door closing and knew this was their only shot to get in. She looked at her teammates and told them to hurry.

Arcee: "This is it! Move before the door closes on us!"

The team immediately made a mad dash to the garage door before it closed on them. Bulkhead was the first to get in with his big body followed by Bumblebee and Smokescreen. When Arcee was up next, the garage door was just about to close, but she had enough room to let her in. With precise timing, she ran to the door and did a quick slide through it, seconds before it closed. Once in the clear, they had blasters up and backs to each other in case there were any soldiers. Fortunately there were none, just a huge garage with many vehicles from cars to tanks parked. Even though the main lights were still off, the emergency lights illuminated the entire place. Bulkhead lifted his blaster up and left it armed as he scanned the area.

Bulkhead: "Area's secured. I'm quite surprised that no one is around here."

Arcee: "Guess that diversion I made drew everyone to that spot. Perfect for us to start searching. Everyone stay close and keep your guard up. Though the place does look temporarily deserted, there could still be a few guards keeping watch."

Everyone nodded and proceeded to the arch-like exit of the garage to get into the prison and search for their human friends.

* * *

While they were beginning the search, Professor Sumdac was still in his office waiting for any news on the power outage. He spent most of his time sitting on his bed as the emergency light in his room shone down on him. He couldn't help but think of what his daughter had said to him. It was like her words were a second chance to make things right again. As though he had to figure out some way of repairing the damage he had caused. While he was thinking about it, he didn't notice the glass of water on his desk vibrating on the surface. That was until he could hear loud steps that were getting louder and the room was shaking.

Curious, he got out of his bed and headed to the door to see what was going on. Opening the door, he was suddenly greeted by a huge green foot. Scared straight, he quickly backed away. But inching back to the door, he slowly peeked out. Eyes like saucers, he blinked at what he was seeing.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh my…"

Looking right up he saw the Autobots walking past him, as they weren't fully aware of his presence. As they were away from his view, he stepped out of the doorway to see them leaving. Pondering this, he soon realized that they were looking for the kids and the woman that MECH had taken. He remembered Miko telling the Director that the Autobots would find and rescue them and it looked like she was right. But judging by the way they were looking, they didn't have the slightest clue where their friends were. He then remembered the words of his daughter that echoed in his head.

Sari: _"If I were in your shoes, I think I would do what's right for myself."_

Repeating those words to himself, he tilted his head up and knew what he had to do.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh Sari, you certainly know how to help your father."

Cautiously he followed behind the Autobots, wondering where they would go next.

* * *

Outside the facility, every MECH soldier was trying to get everything under control. There were fire trucks surrounding the burnt building that was once the generator area and were drenching the flames in gallons of water. Soldiers were around too as they used fire extinguishers to clear off burning debris all around. And there were medical units aiding the injured that had gotten caught in the blast, patching up their wounds. As all of this was going on, the Director and Commander Rourke approached, surprised to see what had happened to the generators. One of the soldiers approached the two and saluted.

MECH Soldier 9: "Director! Commander!"

Rourke looked at the mess and turned to the soldier to ask him what happened.

Commander Rourke: "What just happened here?!"

The soldier looked at the fire and explained to them about the incident.

MECH Soldier 9: "Don't know. One moment everything was normal and the next there was this huge explosion coming from the generator building. The details are unknown so far but from what the survivors said the blast happened on the inside."

The Director went past the soldier and continued with the questions.

Director: "Tell me soldier, was there anyone inside."

The soldier turned to the head of the science division and answered him.

MECH Soldier 9: "I don't think so sir. No one was present inside the building. General rules and regulations states that no one is allowed into the building unless they were maintenance workers. Might have had something to do with the many volts of electricity that emanated from the turbines."

The commander looked at the burning building and wondered about this incident.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, I do believe that the explosion might have had something to do with the test we conducted hours ago. It's obvious that the electric surge from the final phase overloaded the generators and caused them to explode from the inside."

The Director stared right at the fire and thought that was impossible.

Director: "If that was the case Commander, then they would've blown up to begin with. Judging by the force of the blast and the way it happened on the inside, I do believe that this was no accident."

The Commander looked at him and was a little confused.

Commander Rourke: "Sir? What are you saying?"

That's when the head scientist turned to him and expressed his thoughts.

Director: "What I'm saying my dear commander is that this explosion was nothing more than a diversion. But the main question is, who did it?"

The second he asked that question, he heard a voice of another soldier coming to them.

MECH Soldier 10: "Director!"

They all turned to the soldier headed to their position, panting from his running. The commander approached him.

Commander Rourke: "What is it soldier? What's got you on edge?"

The MECH militant looked up to the two and told them what he saw.

MECH soldier 10: "Sorry for the rush, but I need to show you two something. It's at the prison walls."

The Director raised a shadowy eyebrow and responded to the soldier's plea.

Director: "Show us…"

* * *

Back inside the prison itself, the Autobots were continuing to search for their friends that were taken by MECH. They'd been going at it for minutes on end as they checked each prison cell, thinking that they could be in any of them. They also had to avoid detection from other soldiers that were still patrolling the area in the dark as they waited and scanned the area for any hostiles. With a Cybertronian flashlight in hand, Arcee quickly checked each cell while the others looked at the others she missed. They didn't have a clue that someone had been following them. After looking into several cells, Smokescreen sighed and told everyone that they were empty.

Smokescreen: "Nothing here."

The others were looking through the cells too and agreed with him.

Bulkhead: "Everything here is empty."

Bumblebee: _**(Ditto)**_

Arcee rolled her optics around and was getting frustrated over this.

Arcee: "Still isn't enough. They have to be around here somewhere."

The other Autobots looked at the two-wheeler and could tell that she was a little obsessed with finding their friends. Bulkhead then came in and tried to calm her down.

Bulkhead: "Calm down Arcee. We've been looking through every cell imaginable and can't find the kids or June. It's possible that they might not be in this facility at all."

That's when Arcee turned to the Wrecker and spat back at him.

Arcee: "Shut up! You don't know that! For all we know they could still be around. We just need to keep looking."

Smokescreen headed to the two and had a suggestion.

Smokescreen: "Even if they are here, this search is going to take too long. By the time we find them, Earth's military would arrive and start to ask why we're here. Perhaps we should split up and expand our search."

The femme turned to the Elite Guard member and responded.

Arcee: "Not going to happen. I know you're still new to Team Prime, so I'll let you know that MECH is a serious threat. I should know. They nearly turned me into scrap metal and they had the audacity to take Bee's T-Cog. If we split up and MECH finds us, they won't hesitate in putting us down and take us apart piece by piece. If we stick together, we might have a better chance of taking them on. It's imperative that we get our friends out of here and escape before MECH finds out what really happened."

Smokescreen: "Even if we do stick together, we still don't know where they are keeping our friends. I mean look around you. This place is huge! It would take us megacycles to find them."

Arcee groaned and was about to say something to him. But before she could do that, everyone heard a mysterious voice right behind them.

Professor Sumdac: "Perhaps I could be of some assistance."

Their audio receptors perked up and turned to the direction of that voice with their blasters armed. But what they saw was an Indian scientist that was a little bloated and had spiked hair with a white line in the middle. Caught off guard by their sudden armed response, he stumbled back and landed on his rear. The group looked at him with curiosity and wondered who this person was. Arcee then retracted her blaster and approached him, asking his name.

Arcee: "Who are you? Why are you following us?"

The professor got up and dusted himself off, introducing himself to the Autobots.

Professor Sumdac: "My name is Professor Isaac Sumdac, and I'm here to help."

As he finished with his introduction, he was amazed by the Autobot's presence and their design. He stared at each of them and was astounded.

Professor Sumdac: "Fascinating… I've been working with robotics since I was young, but I never thought it would beyond my understanding. Your design, the shape of genders, the body language… It is almost like you act all human. Such an astounding find!"

The team looked at each other and was a little confused by what he was trying to say. Smokescreen then rubbed the back of his helm and awkwardly responded to him.

Smokescreen: "Um… Thank you?"

Arcee looked at him and groaned in complete confusion. She then looked back at the professor and argued back.

Arcee: "You? Help us? Please… You honestly think that a MECH scientist would help us?"

The professor looked at Arcee and explained who he really is.

Professor Sumdac: "I don't actually work for MECH to begin with. I'm actually their intern to help build their projects."

Arcee: "Either way, someone who's helping MECH, is MECH. So you better give us one good reason why we shouldn't slag you…"

The professor eyes opened a little wider and could tell that they meant business. After hearing what the femme said, he decided to help them with who they were looking for.

Professor Sumdac: "Because I know where they are keeping your friends."

That got every bot at a standstill as Arcee blinked at what she was hearing, but then went back to reality knowing that he's working for MECH.

Arcee: "What? You're lying!"

Sumdac lifted his hands up and tried to reason with them.

Professor Sumdac: "No, no! I'm telling you the truth! I can take you to them if you like."

But they were still not buying it as Bulkhead decided to intervene.

Bulkhead: "Is that right? And why should we trust you?"

The professor gave a deep sigh and tried to explain to them truthfully.

Professor Sumdac: "Because if I were here to betray you, then you would've been offline by now."

Slowly the Autobots looked at each other and wondered whether he was telling the truth. Indeed he was a MECH scientist, or intern as he would like to call himself. But there would've been more soldiers surrounding them if one of their own was close by. Plus they are still alive after talking to Sumdac. So that would mean that the professor was telling the truth in some way. So Arcee bent down on one knee and demanded that he takes them to their friends.

Arcee: "Take us to them."

* * *

Heading back outside, the Director, Commander Rourke, and the soldier arrived at the location from where he had run. What they saw was what appeared to be a huge opening in the wall with bricks and barbed wire scattered everywhere. The three looked on as the commander asked his man about it.

Commander Rourke: "A giant hole in the wall huh? Is this is what you wanted us to see?"

The soldier nodded and explained to him about it in detail.

MECH Soldier 10: "Yes sir. I was on my way getting equipment needed to pump the water when I saw this. I have no idea how this opening got there or what caused it."

The Director slowly walked to the debris and bent down to examine it. Looking at the debris, he figured out what has happened.

Director: "It's evident that the opening of the wall seems to have been caused by a strong force, but the explosion from the generators was too far to make that kind of impact. And judging by the direction of the debris, the force of the blast came from outside the prison walls, not inside."

The soldier listened to what the Director said and was in disbelief.

MECH Soldier 10: "So you're saying that the explosion was just a diversion. Good god… You don't think that the military did this right?"

Rourke turned to him and answered.

Commander Rourke: "Impossible! I have scouts securing every route that goes into here. They would've let me know about this so we could be more prepared."

Director: "Maybe it wasn't the military that did this. Maybe it's an enemy that we weren't expecting…"

The two looked at the Director and wondered what he meant by that.

Commander Rourke: "Sir?"

The head scientist stood up and wondered who could have pulled something like this. Looking around he noticed a security camera that was offline at the moment. Rubbing his chin, he wondered about something and asked the commander about the camera.

Director: "Commander, are the security cameras online yet?"

Commander Rourke: "Just about sir. Once we hook the backup generator to the security room we will have it up and running in no time."

The Director nodded and decided to go down there.

Director: "Then let us head there to see what the cameras picked up. I have a good feeling that our intruders are still within the facility."

* * *

As the Director was heading to the security room, the Autobots continued to look for their friends. Bumblebee took point and got his back at the corner. Quickly, he got out of cover and aimed his twin blasters at anything that moved. When the hall was empty, he turned to the team and chirped at them.

Bumblebee: _**(All clear!)**_

Soon enough, the rest of Team Prime came out of the hall and had their weapons poised and ready in case there were any surprises. As they got the area secured, Professor Sumdac was in the middle of the group to see where to go next. After looking both ways, he pointed to the right and told the team to follow him.

Professor Sumdac: "This way."

He then took the lead and headed down the hall while the Autobots followed behind. Arcee then got next to the professor and asked him about this trip.

Arcee: "How much farther professor?"

Professor Sumdac: "We're just about there. We just need to turn to the left and we'll be at the holding area where they are keeping your friends."

The two-wheeler glared at the scientist and retorted back to him.

Arcee: "You better be right about this, Sumdac. The last thing I want is to walk into an ambush."

Professor Sumdac: "I would never lure you into a trap. I'm an honest man Ms… Sorry I didn't get your name."

Arcee: "It's Arcee, and don't you forget it."

The walk was a quiet one as Arcee began to wonder about this professor that wanted to help them. It was all too weird for her since he's working for MECH, but she could sense that he appeared trustworthy. She then wondered about the kids and June, especially Jack. She hoped that they were safe and sound, and prayed for Jack's own safety. But the more she thought about it, the more she worried about this experiment one of the soldiers had talked about. What was this experiment, and what does it have to do with the Autobots' human friends? This concerned her the most. Curious, she looked at Sumdac and started to ask him.

Arcee: "Professor Sumdac, can you tell us about this experiment MECH is performing here?"

Sumdac did a double take and was surprised that she knew of this experiment, or had heard of it. So he asked her.

Professor Sumdac: "And why do you want to know about it?"

Arcee: "Out of curiosity."

Isaac sighed to himself and could tell that the Autobots wouldn't like what they would hear. So his only option was to slowly coax them into the basic stuff until he told them everything. Taking a deep breath, he started with his explanation.

Professor Sumdac: "Two months ago, I was hired by the Director to help with this project he'd been working on since MECH had learned of your existence."

Arcee: "Director?"

He looked up at her and explained about him.

Professor Sumdac: "He's the head of MECH's science division and a genius at that. He has quite an interesting background."

The other Autobots overheard him as Smokescreen chuckled at the name.

Smokescreen: "The Director huh? He sounds just like Megatron, all full of himself."

Both Bulk and Bee chuckled at the Elite Guard's remarks.

Bulkhead: "Tell me about it. Giving himself a nickname like that makes him feel like more of a dictator than a director."

The professor overheard that and could agree with them on that occasion. After what he'd seen, it makes the Director feel more like a ruler than a scientist. He brushed that aside and continued with his explanation.

Professor Sumdac: "Since your existence was revealed to MECH, both the Director and Silas have been competitors in creating the perfect robotic soldier. While Silas was focusing on Project Chimera, the Director had much stronger ambitions.

Arcee heard that name and nodded in approval.

Arcee: "We've faced Silas's Chimera before. He was using it to frame our leader and try to make us into criminals. Fortunately, Optimus was able to defeat Silas's creation and our names were cleared. Though the take down of Silas was supposed to be the end of MECH. Guess we were wrong."

Professor Sumdac: "It does seem that way. After Silas's project failed and after his betrayal of MECH, the Director then took over and used Silas's research to help continue his work. During his studies, he made some interesting discoveries that Silas missed out on. Most of it had to do with the similarities between your biology and that of our own."

Arcee: "And what does it have to do with you?"

The professor looked up to the femme and told them about himself.

Professor Sumdac: "I am an expert in robotics engineering. The Director came to me because of my work and wanted me to help out on his latest project. He calls it Project Metamorphosis. It has something to do with making his robotic soldiers much more human."

The group turned to the left at the corner and was getting closer to their friends. As they were walking, Arcee pondered what the professor was saying. This Director and this project could mean some bad news for them, especially now that they have the cons hunting them down. But what does all that have to do with their friends, and why did MECH go through all the trouble to abduct them? It doesn't make any sense. Thinking about all this, she asked him about the project and the kids.

Arcee: "So what is this Project Metamorphosis? And what does it have to do with our friends? It doesn't seem to fit the picture in any way possible."

Sumdac sighed and knew that they won't like what they would see, but had to show them anyway.

Professor Sumdac: "Trust me when I say this Arcee, the answers to all your questions are right behind that door."

He then pointed to something straight ahead as the team looked to see what he was showing them. What they saw was a huge garage door of some kind that was holding something of grand importance. Judging by the looks of it, it would seem that their friends are being held captive inside.

Smokescreen: "So our friends are in there huh? A little bit extreme to keep them prisoner."

Arcee: "Well at least we found them. Now we just have to get them out of here. Bulkhead!"

Bulk looked at the two-wheeler and nodded, changing his servos into a pair of wrecking balls.

Bulkhead: "Way ahead of your Arcee."

He was about to head to the garage door and start to break it open. But Sumdac came in front of him and stopped him right there.

Professor Sumdac: "No, no, no! That won't be necessary! I have security clearance for this room. I'll open the garage door for you."

Bulkhead looked down at the professor and found that to be a bit odd for once. He then looked back at Arcee and wondered if she would let him do that. Listening to the professor's words, Arcee decided that it would be better to free their friends quietly than too loud.

Arcee: "Let him do it Bulk. It's wise not to gain too much attention."

Bulkhead groaned to himself and put his wrecking balls away as the professor headed to the small keypad next to the garage door. Once he scanned the security card, he started to input the code to gain entry.

Professor Sumdac: "Thank goodness that the auxiliary power is keeping the door locks and terminals online or things would've gotten complicated."

As he finished inputting the code, he was about to press enter on the door pad. But before doing that, he sighed and turned to the Autobots, warning them about what they were going to see.

Professor Sumdac: "Before I open the door, I want give you a fair warning. Once you enter this room, you will not like what you will see."

The Autobots looked at each other and wondered what he meant by that. But they let that slide as Arcee turned to Isaac and told him to open the door.

Arcee: "We'll take that risk. Now open it."

Sumdac nodded and pressed the enter key. The keypad beeped and the door slowly lifted upwards, giving the Autobots a way in. When it was fully opened, the team entered the room as Sumdac followed behind. They had their blasters armed, thinking it could be a trap, but the place was so dark it was hard to see where they were. Arcee used her blaster free servo to take out her flashlight just to see where they were. When she saw the place was empty, she retracted her blasters and told everyone to do the same.

Arcee: "Stand down, no one is here."

So everyone withdrew their weapons as Sumdac headed to the main controls and started gaining access to the system. As he was getting the system online, Arcee asked him about this place.

Arcee: "So where are we?"

Sumdac answered her question while typing.

Professor Sumdac: "This is what the Director calls the recovery room, where patients who survived the project remain until they are ready for service. This is where your friends were put after surviving the procedure."

The femme blinked her optics and wondered what the professor meant by that. Before she could even ask that question, she heard a beeping on her flashlight, which oddly enough also acted like an energon detector. She checked the screen and noticed something that wasn't right.

Arcee: "That's odd…"

Bumblebee approached her and wondered what she was looking at.

Bumblebee: _**(What is it, Arcee?)**_

Arcee: "Don't know Bee, but my scanner readings for energon is off the charts. It looks like my scanners are picking up four different energon signatures directly in front of us."

Sumdac heard that and could tell they weren't going to like what happened to their friends. With one push of the button, the gears slowly began to turn and four pairs of lights slowly came on. What Team Prime saw were four berths slowly descending diagonally, facing towards them. What they saw completely shocked them and left them speechless. Arcee could only mutter a few words out of her mouth.

Arcee: "By the All Spark…"

What they were looking at was both good news and bad news. The good news was that they found their human friends. The bad news was that they were no longer human, they were Cybertronian.

* * *

**And cue the cliffhanger! Sorry folks, just want to keep you hanging until I post up the next chapter. Besides, anymore writing would make it too long like what happened to my next story. Don't worry; you'll get to see what Jack, Raf, Miko, and June look like in their Cybertronian forms and some huge action along the way. Just be patient for a little longer. Please Review.**


	7. Escape

**Okay, just a quick update for all of your on the season three going on at the Hub. It's sort of like a good news/bad news issue. The good news is that the premier of Beast Hunters will be on March the 22nd and there will be a mini movie for that season. Even saw the trailers they've been posting up and it looks good. Don't know what if the season would make an impact for now, but we'll see. The bad news unfortunately is that this is going to be the final season of Transformers Prime. Really? That's it?! We've been waiting for a couple of months since the end of season two and now we got word that this is going to be the end of Prime? That's a whole load of bull! I'm not making this slag up! Head down to Wikipedia and search for Transformers Prime, there you will see the news on the last sentence. But you know what, maybe this could be something that Hasbro is doing. They could be ending this series so they can add a new series into the Transformers Prime universe. Otherwise, we have the Transformers Animated approach as in ending the series abruptly without giving us clarity of what would happen next. I just hope they don't go down that path. Anyways, I got a comment from someone who watched my Youtube video about my thoughts and TFP Beast Hunters ( www . youtube watch?v = 3pEdsymcc7M) that there's a possibility that the season three episodes could be an hour long. But that's what he thinks and I don't think it's official. We just have to wait and see when the third season comes out. As for my last chapter, it was history making for me. For the first time ever for me, my reviews are over a hundred. That is a huge milestone for me since my stories in the past had fifty or thirty reviews. My hit counter for my last chapter was a little less then the others, like below a thousand hits. Not that much like last time, but at least it's a strong showing. Here to more reviews and hits for future chapters to come. Now to go to the second parter of TFP S3 E1. The Autobots manage to find their friends, though not what they were expecting. Now they have to find a way in escaping the facility. Will they be able to make an escape; now that MECH knows they're in the base? This is going to be interesting.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Now I've been getting reviews on requests of the Jack, Raf, Miko, and June about their alt modes and what they would look like. Though they all seem like good options, I wanted to do this in a different approach. See, for their robot modes, I wanted to make them unique based around their ages, size, and body armor. Vehicle modes I will reveal in later chapters as I have a tendency in picking what's the right alt mode. But I've done my research and I know what to use. Rest assure that I will slowly reveal the weapons, gadgets, and vehicles for the Autobot's friends in the coming chapters. Y'all better stay tune to see what will happen next. As an added bonus, I'm going to add another Red vs. Blue Easter egg in this chapter with two more people. Hint: one person is a ladies man and the other is a pacifist. I bet you can't guess who they are. Plus I'm going to bring back Grif and Simmons for this chapter as well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Seven: Escape

_Sari Sumdac's Diary Entry_

_Date: April 14th 20XX_

_Dear Diary,_

_Been another boring day at home with the absence of my dad. He's still with his client doing this side project for months. It's getting hard for me to go through with my studies without him, especially my report I'm doing about my family history. I tried to talk to him about it but he wouldn't help me much. I mean, he is the best robotics engineer in all of Detroit; he should help me with it being that he is part of history. Always too busy with his work. But lately, he's been acting a little strange._

_He's been a little nervous on the phone and remained quiet every time I ask him. Pretty sure it's his client trying to force him to work constantly on this side project they've been doing. I swear whoever this guy is has to be a major pain. He even asks me what he should do, me of all people. Though I don't know much about what he does for a living, I just simply told him to do the right thing. I know it's my opinion, but it's the only wise thing I should say. I'm pretty sure he does what's right for himself and fixes his own problems. I just hope he doesn't get into too much trouble._

* * *

In the recovery room of MECH's facility, every Autobot was completely quiet as they were shocked by what they were seeing. It seemed like just hours ago they had seen their human friends shortly before they were captured. Now they were looking at Cybertronian versions of their friends and didn't know what to say. Though their bodies were radically different, their faces were basically the same.

The first one on the berth was Miko. She was now a little taller than Arcee and her shape was much more womanly than that of a teenager. Her armor color was purple with pink highlights that resembled flame decals. There was some of her armor that looked like car parts from some kind of sports car. The hood was shaped like her breastplate and there were headlights at the side of her hips. There were car doors on her arms which acted like a shield for her and tires that defined her shoulders and the heels of her feet. The back end of the trunk was split in half and shaped to look like her feminine feet and ankles. And her back resembled the roof of the car and was shaped to look like her back and rear. Her helmet looked just like her hair with two lotus-shaped pointy metal prods that acted like her pigtails with the color all purple, with one pink streak in front that acted like her bang and pink tips on her pigtails that resembled her human hair. Multiple braided wires came out the back of her helmet and were draped over her left shoulder, just like her real hair, and were a mix of pink and purple. Bulkhead looked at this strange femme and was shocked to see who she was.

Bulkhead: "It can't be… Miko?"

Raf was just about the same size as Arcee, but smaller than Bumblebee. The color of his armor was brownish-orange and it had car parts of a much smaller car. His chest resembled a pair of front car doors with the hood as the waist and the headlights and bumper acting as his belt. The back doors were a pair of wings just like Bumblebee's, Arcee's, and Smokescreen's, and the back trunk was molded to look like forearms with his arms covering what's left of the car. His front wheels were connected to the side of his waist, while his back tires were his elbows. There was exposed protoform skin on his thighs, but his legs and feet had orange armor with points at the front end. His helmet was the same color as his armor and it resembled his spiky hairdo. To top it all off, he had a light blue visor attached to the front bottom of his helm and over his eyes, or optics, just like his glasses. Bumblebee saw his best friend in this unknown condition and was in total disbelief.

Bumblebee: _**(Raf?)**_

June's changes were as drastic as the others. She was shorter than Ratchet, but her body and armor shaped her like a fine femme. The color of her armor was red and looked like it was designed to be an emergency vehicle, but more like a small car than an ambulance. Unlike Miko or Raf, her upper body was the roof of a car that had been shaped to look like her chest plate, with a logo of a red cross with a white circle in the middle. Her feet were the front of the car with headlights at the ends of her feet and front wheels above her heels. On her arms were two sets of doors that were shaped to be her armored feminine muscles. The backdoors were her biceps while her front doors were her arms that had the same Red Cross logo on the panels with the words, "Emergency Vehicle" printed on it. On her upper back were two pairs of tires and her shoulders had red and blue sirens that split between her head. Her helmet didn't match her hair, but it was well rounded and covered her head quite nicely. She had two antennae-like sticks at the top and a square-shaped object at the middle with the same Red Cross on it. Smokescreen looked at her and didn't know what to say.

Smokescreen: "Good Primus… This is sickening."

But no one was as horrified as Arcee. She looked at Jack and couldn't believe her optics. He looked like a smaller version of Optimus with a few exceptions. His armor color was black with gray highlights, and the armor itself looked like it came from a much bigger car. There was a wide front window that was split in half and covered his chest. There was the hood that was shaped over his stomach and showed some abs with the grill, and headlights that adorned his shoulders. His arms had two sets of doors that melded into his muscles with the front doors for his arms and the middle back doors for his biceps. Two huge tires were placed around the front arches and a compressed roof that acted as his back. His legs had the back end of the car with the split trunk that were his thighs and the sides that were his ankles with the back tires that helped support his feet in the back. His helmet was similar to his bike helmet back when he was human with a few exceptions. For example, there was no visor or mouth guard on him as his gray skinned face was exposed. And there were antennae-like prods at the sides of his helm similar to Optimus'. Arcee's optics blinked so many times, trying to come to grips with the fact that the strange robot in front of her was actually Jack.

Arcee: "No… This is impossible… Jack?"

She slowly approached his berth and was awestruck by how he looked. Getting close to where he was sleeping, she raised her servo and touched his face with her delicate digits. She couldn't believe who she was staring at. Just hours ago, she was looking at Jack's human face for the last time. Now she was looking at Jack's Cybertronian face for the very first time. She was at a loss for words and didn't know what to think of this.

Arcee: "Oh Jack… What have they done to you?"

She shut her optics and turned her head away, refusing to believe that MECH had actually done something so horrible. As she was trying to figure out what happened to them, she heard a voice coming from the very person that had been helping them.

Professor Sumdac: "I told you that you wouldn't like what you'd see."

All of the Autobot's audio receptors perked up after hearing those words and turned to Isaac Sumdac, who was at the controls hanging his head in shame. Though the mechs were speechless seeing their friends in that state, Arcee was furious. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. Clamping her feet to his position, she started asking a question that was in every Autobot's processor.

Arcee: "What happened to them? Tell me!"

The professor looked up at the femme and was unsure of what to say. He had experienced too many emotions throughout the experiment and was having a hard time putting the whole thing into words.

Professor Sumdac: "I can't say… It's complicated."

Arcee: "Then you better start un-complicating it, now…"

Sumdac could hear the icy sound of her voice and knew it demanded answers. He slowly breathed in deeply and explained as best he could.

Professor Sumdac: "When the Director took over, he believed that the reason Silas failed on his project was because he created a lifeless machine without a soul. He believed that creating a robot that acts, feels, and thinks like a human would be the best of options. But to do that he needed a way of creating these humanized robots. That's when he made a discovery. He had reason to believe that energon, your fuel I believe it is, contained a genetic code that could help create mechanized soldiers. The problem is that the code was bland, not fully complete. So he had to try a different source to converge into energon. I think you already know what they used."

Arcee turned back to the Cybertronian forms of their human friends and realized what he meant by it. Disgusted by that thought, she pointed towards her friends and glared back at Sumdac.

Arcee: "They used humans? They used them?!"

The professor nodded and continued with his explanation.

Professor Sumdac: "The Director believed that converging humans into energon was the first step because humans contained enough genetic code to create his new soldiers. Soon after that, he used his second step to alter the code of these four to turn them into your kind. The final stage was to recreate your kind by bringing life back to the lifeless energon liquid. And as you can see, the project was a complete success."

The Autobots listened to every word he said and were appalled by what they heard. They were just shocked to know that MECH, this Director, had turned their friends into Cybertronian soldiers. It was unexpected, even for them. Still, it didn't make any sense as to why MECH would take them. So the femme continued to ask.

Arcee: "Well that explains a lot. But why did this Director want the kids, let alone June?"

Sumdac thought about it and answered her question.

Professor Sumdac: "I think it's because, before he could actually create his new army, he needed to test it out to see if it worked. But he didn't want to use his men to test his projects or it would be a mess. So he wanted to use civilians to take part in this project, mostly by force. I think this is the reason why the Director wanted to take your friends, because it's their relation with the four of you. I read the files after the Director gave the order to find your friends and could tell that they were always close to all of you. In addition, they had their encounters with MECH under a couple of occasions."

Smokescreen looked back at the berths that had their friends and was concerned about their condition.

Smokescreen: "And what about our friends? Are they even aware of what happened to them?"

Sumdac turned to him and told him that they don't have a clue.

Professor Sumdac: "No, for now… Ever since they survived the procedure, they've been in a deep sleep. The Director said that they need to be fully recharged before they can wake up. Like a new cell phone that needs to be charged after it is bought. If they wake up though, I'm afraid to know what their reactions will be."

Bumblebee couldn't help but to stare at the four human friends and was sickened to his fuel tank by it all.

Bumblebee: _**(Slag MECH… Slag them all to the pits! When I get my servos on them after what they did to Raf…)**_

Upon saying that, he slammed his fist on a nearby pillar and bent it upon impact. The other Autobots looked on and could tell that he wasn't this upset since Raf was almost killed by Dark Energon. Arcee decided to calm Bee before he goes psychotic on a human, grabbing his shoulders and staring right into his optics.

Arcee: "Bee, will you please calm down. You think you are the only one that's shocked at what happened to our friends? We need to focus on the task at hand."

Bee vented out his frustration and decided to follow the mission. As he was calming down, Bulkhead looked at the four former humans on the berths and wondered what to do with them now.

Bulkhead: "Now what do we do? We were supposed to be rescuing humans, not newborn adult Cybertronians."

Arcee looked at the four as well and could agree with Bulkhead on that occasion.

Arcee: "You're right Bulk. This really complicates our mission. Maybe there's a way to fix this. Perhaps change them back to what they once were."

Professor Sumdac: "I'm afraid that's impossible."

The femme turned to the professor after hearing his sorrow-filled voice.

Arcee: "What do you mean by that?"

Sumdac lowered his head and started to tell her about reversing their condition.

Professor Sumdac: "I talked to the Director earlier today to discuss reversing the state they are in."

Arcee: "And what did he say?"

He remained silent for a few seconds until he looked up to them with a troubled expression and answered Arcee's question.

Professor Sumdac: "He said that even if we can come up with a way of returning them to normal, they would not survive the procedure. I think it has something to do with the energon, being that they were turned into it. Reversing the process would actually kill them."

Arcee blinked and was in complete shock by the news. She slowly turned her head to the four again and understood what he meant.

Arcee: "You mean to tell me that the process… is irreversible?"

Professor Sumdac: "I'm afraid so. I hate to say this to all of you but your friends will be like that for the rest of their lives."

There was a deep silence within the room as the continued news about their friends worsened. Not only that their friends are now cybertronian, but they are stuck like that forever. This was almost like a sword that stuck right into their sparks, especially Arcee. She looked completely distraught by all of this and was ready to take all of her anger out on someone. Unfortunately, the nearest person near her was Isaac Sumdac. She quickly screamed out loud and bent down to slam her fist to the floor just a few feet away from the professor. Sumdac was terrified and jumped away from the impact, nearly falling to the ground again, as Arcee looked at him with a furious expression.

Arcee: "What were you thinking?! Taking these four and turning them into our kind without any thought of the consequences or any way of reversing the state they are all in?! Are you really that sick?"

The professor was panic-stricken and tried to reason with her as much as he could.

Professor Sumdac: "Wait! It was never my intention to do any of this! It was the Director! I was just hired by him to help with his work! He never told me anything about this until it was too late! Please don't kill me! I'm a father!"

Quickly, both Bumblebee and Smokescreen grabbed the femme and tried to restrain her as she was about to squish the professor.

Bumblebee: _**(And you said I needed to calm down?)**_

Smokescreen: "Easy there Arcee! Let's not do anything we're going to regret. We need to get our friends out of here before MECH does something else to them."

Arcee slowly relaxed and decided to let cooler heads prevail. She knew that they had to save their friends, and after what MECH had done to them, she was afraid of what they would do next. The two bots let go of her as she calmed down.

Arcee: "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just angry at what happened to our friends. But we still need to rescue them. If MECH managed to successfully turn our friends into Cybertronians then there's no telling what plans they have for them next. We have to get them out of here fast before this Director uses them for something more diabolical than this."

Bulkhead: "And how are we going to do that? I mean look at them! They're now robots with no way of changing them back. You expect us to carry them to the Jackhammer? Next thing you're going to tell us to paint targets on a chassis."

The femme turned to the Wrecker and told him that it wasn't her fault.

Arcee: "Hey! I wasn't expecting any of our human friends to be turned into metallic soldiers, or the fact that they were captured to begin with. Whatever the case, we have to get them out of here. We have to find a way of getting them to Wheeljack without us being slow moving targets."

Sumdac thought of that and came up with an idea.

Professor Sumdac: "You know, those berths your friends are sleeping on can automatically move by themselves through remote control. They are used to move the berths from the project to the recovery room easily without any heavy lifting."

The Autobots looked at the professor and wondered if that was true. They then looked down and noticed the wheels on each of the gurneys and a computer that can be operated by a worker. Curious, Arcee turned to him and asked him about that.

Arcee: "Do you think you can program the gurneys manually so that we can move them on our own?

The professor shrugged his shoulders and responded to her question.

Professor Sumdac: "But of course. I am the one that built them in the first place."

The femme gave off a small smirk and demanded he get started.

Arcee: "Then you better get started right away. The longer we talk, the sooner MECH and this Director will find us."

* * *

And she was right about that, for in the security room, soldiers had the emergency generator installed and were trying to get it running. Just then the door opened up and both the Director and Commander Rourke walked in observing the area. The Director approached the solider controlling the task at hand demanding an explanation.

Director: "Lieutenant DuFresne, what's the status of the security station?

The lieutenant who was the leading field medic and technician expert turned to the leader and started to say something before giving him the details.

Doc: "First of all, I would like it if you don't call me by that name. Just call me Doc. As for the progress, we're about ready to bring the security room online. Connecting the backup generator was a bit of a rough one, but I think we got the gist going there. Though this would've gone smoother if our security chief over here had helped out."

The Director then turned to the security chief and saw him reading a Victoria Secrets catalog.

Director: "Security Chief Tucker, care to explain."

The security chief named Tucker lowered his catalog and sighed to himself.

Tucker: "Aw come on Director. You know me and my men can't operate the terminals without the power on. At least the techy guys can do all the work while we chillax and have a little good time."

Rourke was a little fuming about Tucker and approached him with big stomps of his feet, snatching the catalog out of his hands.

Commander Rourke: "Maybe if you spent less time in looking at girls and more time helping the group out, then we would've had this fixed by now!"

Tucker lifted his hands up and tried to reason with him.

Tucker: "Whoa… Easy there commander. You know I'm a lonely man out here. I'm a lover, not a fighter."

Doc then approached the Commander and tried to calm him down.

Doc: "Tucker's right commander. You need to relieve some stress out of your body. Have you ever thought about taking some yoga classes? A little pilates can really calm the nerves."

The commander turned to Doc and started the threaten him.

Commander Rourke: "I'll calm my nerves when this mess settles. And if you don't get the security system online, then I won't hesitate to shoot you where you stand…"

The head technician gulped and was a little nervous about that.

Doc: "Heh, heh… Sure, not a problem."

As soon as he said that, one of the soldiers pulled on the ignition string one more time and the backup generator hummed to life. The terminals were then turned on and the screens went to static before half the security cameras came back online. The soldier then turned to the others and told them the good news.

MECH Soldier 11: "Back up generator is online. All systems are a go."

The Director looked at the soldier and nodded.

Director: "Excellent… Get access to all video footage minutes before the unexpected blackout."

The soldier nodded and headed to his post, gaining access to all the video footages before the power outage. The Director looked at each of the monitors intently while the commander approached him, wondering what he was doing.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, exactly what are we looking for?"

Director: "Something that isn't out of the ordinary."

The two looked at every monitor to see if there was anything that didn't look right. After looking through several screens, the head scientist noticed something from the camera that had been mounted over at the generator building. He couldn't tell exactly what, but something had been in the building, something not human.

Director: "Wait. What's that?"

Rourke looked at the same monitor the Director was looking at and noticed the stranger too. He then turned to Tucker and told him to alter a few things.

Commander Rourke: "Pause the footage and increase the image to 50%."

Tucker nodded and did what the commander wanted him to do. Once the image was paused and zoomed to its proper position, the two noticed that this stranger was actually a female robot with blue armor and pink highlights in some places. Tucker looked at this femme too and couldn't help but to give out a lovely whisper.

Tucker: "Hello, nurse… I don't know about you guys, but that is one hot metallic babe. I wonder if I could push my crankshaft in her. Bow-Chica-Wow-Wow."

Doc looked at him and sighed to himself.

Doc: "Really, Tucker? We're looking at an intruder that was in the generator building and all you can think of is banging her?"

Tucker looked at him and argued back.

Tucker: "Hey, I can't help it. A single man like me needs to have his own fantasies, right?"

But the Director ignored this squabble and took a closer look at the mysterious blue femme and noticed something on her little wings. Upon closer examination, he realized that it was an Autobot emblem. He then remembered what Miko said about the Autobots coming to save them before he began his experiment. Putting the two together, he now knew what was going on.

Director: "This is no ordinary intruder we're dealing with here, it's an Autobot."

He turned to the Commander and gave him the emergency orders.

Director: "The Autobots are in this facility. They're attempting to rescue their friends. I want the whole facility under lockdown and have all men use extreme force. Sound the alarm."

The commander turned to his boss and nodded.

Commander Rourke: "On it."

* * *

Back in the recovery room, Professor Sumdac was typing away on the computer console, gaining access to the berths movability. The Autobots were waiting patiently for him to finish so they could move those berths containing their former human friends. But Arcee was tapping her foot and was getting a little antsy. She was staring at the professor and wondered whether he was done.

Arcee: "Well professor, any progress?"

The professor continued to work while answering the two-wheeler's question.

Professor Sumdac: "Almost there. Just need to input this code and…"

The moment he pressed enter, a beep was heard and the screen stated, _"access granted. Berths 1-4 movability active."_ The beds rose back to their position while the wheels started to unlock themselves and each berth was ready to be moved. Sumdac looked at the team and smiled in sheer success.

Professor Sumdac: "There, I got it. Not only did I unlock the wheels to help move the berths, I've also taken the liberty of removing remote access. You will be able to move them by yourselves, but I suggest caution. Those berths could be heavy as you push."

Arcee nodded and thanked the professor for all the help.

Arcee: "Thanks professor. But you should know that what you did is going to get you into a whole lot of trouble."

Professor Sumdac: "Just as long as they don't notice what I did, I think I'll be safe. Just hurry and get your friends out of here quick before MECH uses them for more experimentation."

The femme nodded and gave the professor a warm smile. She then turned to the rest of the team and gave them the orders.

Arcee: "You heard him team, it's time we get our friends out of this pithole. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, you start pushing the berths while Smokescreen and I take the lead. Let's go before they find-"

Before she could finish, red lights began blinking on and off and buzzers blared. Commander's Rourke's voice came out through the speakers, giving out orders.

Commander Rourke: _"Attention all units. This is Commander Rourke. We have a code red emergency. The Autobots are inside the facility! They are attempting to rescue our test subjects! Lockdown the facility, make sure no one escapes the base! Use extreme force! Shoot on site! I repeat, Autobots are in the facility! Shoot on site!"_

The Autobots heard that and realized that they were in trouble.

Bumblebee: _**(They found us.)**_

Arcee: "Sounds like it Bee."

The professor heard that too and feared that if the soldiers came here and saw this, then her daughter's life would be in grave danger. He turned to them and told them to go.

Professor Sumdac: "You have to leave now! MECH won't hesitate in killing all of you."

Arcee turned to him and nodded in agreement. She then turned to Smokescreen and told him to get the beacon.

Arcee: "Smokescreen, get Wheeljack's beacon active! We have to leave right now!"

Smoke nodded and took the beacon out of his compartment. He then pressed the top button and the light blinked red, alerting Wheeljack to their position.

Smokescreen: "Got it. Beacon is active."

Arcee: "Good, now let's head outside for pick up. Move!"

Everyone nodded and was ready to leave. Bulkhead and Bumblebee each grabbed two berths with a free servo and pushed them with all the strength they had. The push made the wheels move freely as they brought the berths forward while Arcee and Smokescreen took the lead. The four left the recovery room with the friends in their possession while the professor looked on and sighed in relief now that everything was over with.

Professor Sumdac: "Good luck. And please be safe."

But what the Autobots or the professor didn't know was that there was a security camera that had turned on just minutes ago and was watching the whole thing.

* * *

Down at the hallway, the Autobots were looking for a way out of the facility. Arcee and Smokescreen had their blasters at the ready and scanned the area for any hostiles. Behind them, both Bumblebee and Bulkhead were pushing the berths that had their former human friends and were keeping an eye out for any hostiles from behind. As they were looking for a way out, Smokescreen looked at the femme and wondered what she was thinking.

Smokescreen: "Um… I know I'm not the one to ask, but how are we going to get out of here?"

Arcee: "The same way we came in. We head back to the garage and wait for our evac. It won't be too hard."

The group then turned to the corner and were about to get close to their exit. But the moment they turned, they saw something that they didn't expect. Standing at the entrance to the garage was a small group of MECH soldiers with their rifles in their hands. When one of them saw the team, he alerted the others and gave the orders.

MECH Soldier 12: "Autobots! Open fire!"

The group pointed their weapons at them and opened fire. But though they made some successful hits, the team's armor barely got much of a scratch. Arcee lifted her arms up to protect her face and didn't expect this from the start.

Arcee: "Though I could be wrong."

The two backed away while the Elite Guard used his blaster to fire blindly at the group. They then had to cover into separate corners in order to protect themselves from the onslaught while Bulk and Bee stayed behind with the former humans, who thankfully weren't in the crossfire at the moment. Arcee took a quick peek and noticed that the garage was still blocked and the soldiers continued to fire. She also noticed some steam pipes on both ends of the walls. Thinking of no other option, she armed her blasters, got out of cover, and fired on both pipes. The lasers hit the pipes and steam came out of them, causing the soldiers to back away from the high heat. With the soldiers preoccupied, Arcee turned to her comrades and told them to move.

Arcee: "Come on! This way!"

Soon enough, Arcee led the way with the rest of the team following, getting away from the garage. As they were running, Smokescreen sighed and guessed that didn't work.

Smokescreen: "Well, so much for that exit. Now what?"

Arcee: "We have to find an alternate way out. Looks like our best option is the front doors."

Bulkhead overheard that and didn't like the idea.

Bulkhead: "Sure that's a good idea Arcee? Heading out the front is a long walk and with MECH knowing where we are, it won't be an easy feat."

The two-wheeler turned to the Wrecker and smirked to him.

Arcee: "Trust me when I say this Bulk, we've been through much tougher scraps than this. Just keep running and keep your guard up. No doubt MECH will be close by."

Team Prime continued to race their way through the facility just to find their exit. They managed to follow the signs that would lead them to the front doors but they encountered hostiles along the way. There was another group of soldiers coming from the cross junction on their left and right that saw the Autobots and fired at them. Being that they were in a hurry, the team got their blasters and shot at both ends while running towards the exit. As they got past that, they entered a huge cellblock that had five floors packed with cells and a few guards on complete alert. The group just saw them and fired at them from above. The team tried to cover themselves up but with their friends laid on their backs in the berths, they were completely vulnerable. Bumblebee had to take this to the offensive and used his twin blasters to take out the braces of each catwalk floor. With all of them hit in a matter of seconds, the scaffolding plummeted with the soldiers on them, crashing to the ground and crushed from the debris and metal. With that out of the way, the team left the cellblock and entered the middle of the facility that was an indoor courtyard. But as they entered, four sets of torrents were on the ceiling and detected the intruders, firing right at them. Of course like the soldier's rifles, they had very little effect on them. This gave the team time to take them out. Arcee shot down two of the torrents with her blasters while Bulkhead used his blasters to take out the last two. With that cleared, Arcee looked around and noticed the sign for the front doors.

Arcee: "Over there."

The group continued to head to the exit while Bulkhead and Bumblebee continued to push the berths where the former humans were sleeping. It was surprising that the four didn't wake up from the gunshots since they were under complete stasis. But at least it was better to be waking up someplace safe than in the facility. As they were running, there were multiple soldiers on the ground and torrents on the ceiling. They all immediately fired at the bots, hoping to tear them up piece by piece. Still, it wasn't enough since the bullets did nothing but dent them. Arcee and Smokescreen got together and used their blasters to fire away at them. They managed to destroy the torrents and were going to take the guards out. But as they were finishing up, Bumblebee and Bulkhead heard something from behind and turned around to see more guards coming from behind.

MECH Soldier 13: "There they are men! Trap them!"

Both bots aimed their blasters at them and were about to fire away. But the scout looked up at the ceiling and came up with an idea. He then turned to Bulk and told him what he was thinking.

Bumblebee: _**(Bulkhead! The ceiling!)**_

Bulkhead looked up at the ceiling and knew what Bee was trying to say.

Bulkhead: "On it!"

The two then raised their blasters to the ceiling and fired away on it. The blasts caused the ceiling to crack and plummet to the ground, piling the floor with slabs and twisted metal. The soldiers backed away from getting crushed and were blocked away from the Autobots. Bulk smirked and was pleased with what they did. He turned to Bumblebee and gave him a job well done.

Bulkhead: "Great thinking Bee! That will take them a while to get out of."

They then heard Arcee's voice and turned to her to see what she was saying.

Arcee: "Area's secured. Let's move!"

The two nodded and pushed the berths while the two-wheeler and the Elite Guard member took the lead. As they were running, they noticed the two huge metal doors that acted as the front gates of the prison. They also noticed a small group of soldiers at the main hall, all aiming their weapons at the team. But one of the soldiers decided to take it to the defensive.

MECH Soldier 14: "The Autobots have reached the main hall! Do not let them leave the facility with the test subjects! Seal up the area!"

Another soldier nodded and pressed the red button close to him. In seconds, the huge metal door slowly lowered and was sealing the team out of their only exit. Team Prime tried to reach the main hall as quickly as they could, but just as they were about to, the metal door closed on them trapping them completely. The soldier who gave the order looked on and was pleased with his quick thinking decision.

MECH Soldier 14: "Excellent work. Contact the commander. Tell him that we have the intruders trapped in the-"

As he was giving out the command, there was a loud bang at the door. All of the soldiers were alerted to that and got their weapons poised at the door.

MECH Soldier 14: "The hell…"

The group stood their ground and waited to see what happens. Just then, there was another bang on the door. And another bang. And another. The banging continued as dents kept on getting more pronounced from one hit after another. The soldiers remained where they were, getting ready for what was going to come out of the metal door. After a few seconds of waiting, the door blew open and Bulkhead came out with both wrecking balls ready to smash.

Bulkhead: "Marco!"

The soldiers started to fire but their bullets seem useless with the Wrecker's hard armor. Soon enough, he smashed his way through the guards as they were sent flying around like rag dolls. With the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but guards that were completely knocked out and unconscious. Bulk looked around the place and gave a deep sigh.

Bulkhead: "Once again, you were supposed to say Polo."

The rest of Team Prime came out of the hole with Smokescreen and Bumblebee pushing the recharging beds that their friends are sleeping on. Arcee looked at the carnage and looked at the Wrecker for an answer.

Arcee: "Did you really have to be that reckless Bulk?"

He turned to the femme and smiled for her.

Bulkhead: "After what MECH did to our friends, you would do the same as well."

Arcee placed her servo on her hip and had a sly smile of her own.

Arcee: "Point taken. So… Think you can open the door for us?"

She then tilted her head to the direction of the two doors that they needed to go through. Bulkhead looked at the doors and realized that they still needed to get out before more of MECH's soldiers came in and slagged them.

Bulkhead: "Right… I'm on it."

He approached the two doors with his two wrecking balls still on and smashed it many times. After five big hits, the doors were broken off of their hinges and plummeted down to the outside floor. Once they had an opening, the team exited the facility and joined together in the front with their former human friends in the back still recharging.

Arcee: "All right, this is the perfect spot for Wheeljack to pick us up. Though I don't think he would be happy about what happened to our friends as much as we are. I just hope we don't run into anymore trouble."

The second she said that, she heard a southern voice from the distance.

Director: "Oh I do believe it's a little too late for that my lady."

Suddenly, bright lights popped out of nowhere, nearly blinding the team. Readjusting their optics to the lower lighting setting, they were shocked at what they saw. All around them looked like a huge armada loaded with soldiers holding their weapons, tanks in a single line aiming their cannons at them, manned torrents at the watch towers, and anti-aircraft missiles on the roofs. All of these weapons were aimed right at them as everyone kept an eye on the bots. Team Prime was in awe by the wide range of ordnance surrounding them as Arcee cussed to herself.

Arcee: "Scrap!"

The team looked at the huge army encircling them and could agree with the femme.

Smokescreen: "You can say that again Arcee. By the looks of this, I say MECH is pulling out all the stops to prevent us from escaping. I hope you have a plan in getting out of this."

Arcee looked for any flaws in the whole army and didn't see any. She looked back at the Elite Guard member and answered back.

Arcee: "I'm working on it."

As she was thinking of a way to get out of this, she heard the same voice.

Director: "I do declare that I couldn't believe what my own eyes are seeing. The legendary Autobots."

They all turned their direction to the catwalk on the opposite end and far away from them. Though they couldn't see it due to the floodlights in front of them, they could make out two people that were different from the soldiers. One was a bit of a big burly man and the other was a little lean, didn't look battle ready, and had glasses on him. It was obvious to Arcee that this person standing there was in fact the head of MECH's science division, The Director. The person next to him, who was Commander Rourke, asked if he could give the order.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, shall I give the order to fire?"

The Director looked at his commander, and lifted his hand to stop him.

Director: "No commander, don't give the order yet. I just want to see them first hand before they get terminated."

He looked at the group and was impressed by how they look.

Director: "My, oh my… Look at all of you. Such design, such symmetry, such beauty… It is no wonder why Silas was so fond of your kind."

Arcee looked at this person and understood who it was. Squinting her optics, she remembered what the professor said and made a quick guess.

Arcee: "I take it you must be the Director."

The head scientist looked at the femme and answered her back.

Director: "You're right my dear. Though I've got to admit I was hoping for your leader, Optimus Prime. Where is he?"

The femme turned her head away and didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him that Optimus died at the hands of cons, or MECH would think that they are now weak and leaderless. So with no way of telling, she turned to the human and did a quick lie.

Arcee: "He's… not with us at the moment."

The Director sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead.

Director: "It's such a shame really. I was supposed to thank him for not only revealing your existence to MECH, but also putting an end to my rival's Chimera. His assistance truly helped me to achieve what Silas had failed to do."

The two-wheeler looked back at her former human friends that were still recharging on their berths and was sickened to her fuel tank by it. She turned to the head scientist and demanded some answers with a murderous expression.

Arcee: "What have you done to them?"

The head scientist looked at the new Cybertronians on the berths too and could tell that they wanted an explanation.

Director: "What have I done? I did what MECH wanted. I have created the perfect robotic beings that have souls, feelings, and intelligence. Perfect specimens, if I do say so myself. I've got to say my experiment was a sheer success."

That got Arcee's temper boiling as she argued back to him.

Arcee: "Specimens? Is that what you're calling them? Those people are our friends, our family! And you took them from us and turned them into that? Why?"

The Director tilted his head and responded to her anger.

Director: "Why? MECH needs the most advanced weapons for their purpose of world domination. Your existence proves it. Since then, Silas and I have been working on creating soldiers of your kind for months. But while Silas's idea was to build just a machine that would be operated by remote control, my project deserved a much broader perspective. You can imagine what you will get with some energon and a whole lot of engineering to create beings like you."

Arcee understood that part when Sumdac told the team about what MECH did to them, but she was boiling over what they did to their friends.

Arcee: "And our friends? Did they really deserve this?"

Director: "Your friends were the perfect test subjects for my experiment, since they have strong connections with all of you. I'm frankly surprised that they were able to survive the procedure after what they'd been through. You should be happy though. Thanks to me, your friends are now a real part of your family."

Now that caused Arcee to snap.

Arcee: "Happy? You turned four of our friends and teammates, your own kind, into Cybertronians and you say that we should be HAPPY that they are now one of us!? You took their lives, futures, just about everything from them and you can't reverse what condition they are in! You think turning humans into our kind makes you the next Primus? Well you're not! You're just an opportunistic human that is pretending to be our creator. It makes me sick!"

The Director's only response is a simple shake of the head and a little tisk in his mouth.

Director: "Such a pity… And at first I thought that you would be impressed by my genius. Yet instead you distaste my work and call me a false god. If that's what you think I am, then so be it."

He then turned to Rourke and gave him the orders.

Director: "Commander, order the tanks to fire at the intruders, make sure they are sent to their maker in many pieces. Our specimens though, leave them alive. I might still be needing them for more testing."

The commander nodded as he looked towards the tanks and communicated through the walkie-talkie on his shoulder.

Commander Rourke: "All tanks prepare to fire at the intruders! Aim for their chests."

The tanks responded as the cannons slowly ascended upwards right at the Autobots' chassis. The team looked on and was now in some serious trouble as Bumblebee beeped nervously.

Bumblebee: _**(This is it? This is the end of Team Prime?)**_

Arcee: "It does seem that way Bee. But look on the bright side, at least we will be reunited with Optimus in the Well of the All Spark."

Once the cannons were targeting their sparks, the commander gave the final word.

Commander Rourke: "Cannons at the ready… And… FIRE!"

The second he said that, a small group of missiles came up from behind the commander and whizzed over his head. The missiles then hit the tanks and they all exploded on impact as shrapnel was flying everywhere. Both the Autobots and MECH were shocked by what happened and confused at the unexpected explosion.

Smokescreen: "Uh… What was that?"

Suddenly, a small futuristic ship flew overhead and was circling around the facility. The moment it dove in, it used its blasters on the front to shoot off the soldiers on the ground. Everyone was panicked and ran for their lives while the blaster shots caused them to scatter. Inside the cockpit, Wheeljack was having a blast with the aerial assault and couldn't help but to laugh it up.

Wheeljack: "Starting the party without me Bulk? That's the second time you never told me."

His ship flew high into the air as Bulkhead laughed at the sight of it.

Bulkhead: "That's my Jackie, always loves to make an entrance."

The other Autobots looked up at the Jackhammer too and was pleased that they had backup. But the Director wasn't happy about this as he turned to the commander and pointed to the Jackhammer.

The Director: "They have a ship?! Nothing in Silas's files said anything about the Autobots having a ship! Shoot it down!"

The commander nodded and gave the order.

Commander Rourke: "All anti aircraft missiles, open fire!"

The pods carrying the missiles turned to the direction of the ship and launched multiple rockets right at the Jackhammer. The Wrecker saw this and couldn't help but to snicker about it.

Wheeljack: "Seriously? You think those little fireworks can stop my Jackhammer?"

With his servos on the controls, he used his ship to maneuver easily around the missiles with a variety of quick turns, flips, and loops. Once the Jackhammer was clear from the missiles, he targeted the containers for the missiles and smirked devilishly.

Wheeljack: "My turn…"

With a push of the button, multiple missiles of his own came out of the ship and headed straight at the missile pods. They all connected and blew the pods to bits. The Director looked on and felt his anger boiling on the inside and couldn't believe what he was seeing. He rubbed his forehead and just didn't know what to do.

Director: "This is very frustrating…"

With the whole place cleared temporarily, the Jackhammer slowly landed on the clearing with its back turned to Team Prime. The back then opened up and Wheeljack walked out of the ship with a smile on his face. Arcee just looked at him and rolled her optics around due to his tardiness.

Arcee: "You're late."

Jackie looked at her and tried to explain it to her.

Wheeljack: "Sorry about that sweetheart, but there were winged creatures with feathers that were in my path. Had to clear away before those things clogged up my engines. So where are your human friends?"

He then looked behind them and noticed the new Cybertronians sleeping on the movable berths. That confused him and he pointed right at them.

Wheeljack: "And who are they?"

The team looked back at their friends and soon realized that the Wrecker had no clue that they were their friends. So the femme turned to him and answered his question straight away.

Arcee: "Wheeljack, those are our human friends."

Jackie did a double take and realized that three of them looked like the human kids the Autobots hung out with. The sight hit him and he turned to the two-wheeler for an explanation.

Wheeljack: "Is this a fragging joke?! What happened to them?"

Arcee: "I'll explain everything later. Right now we have to get them out of here before MECH does something worse than what they have already done to them."

As she said that, the Director decided to stop this at once before they could make an escape.

Director: "I'm not going to let you take away what I created! Destroy them! Don't let them escape!"

The soldiers that were running away from the ship came back and fired their weapons right at the Autobots. The group shielded themselves from the bullets and knew that MECH wouldn't rest until they go offline. Bulkhead turned to his friend and told him to help them.

Bulkhead: "Jackie, we need to get our friends into the ship. Help Smokescreen carry them to the Jackhammer while we hold MECH off."

Wheeljack looked back at the former humans on the berths and looked back at his Wrecker ally. Knowing he had no other option, he nodded in agreement and headed to the berths with Smokescreen by his side. As they were retrieving their friends, the other three Prime members looked at the guards shooting at them and decided to strike back.

Arcee: "All right boys, let's show these humans how Team Prime does business!"

All three of them got their duel blasters out and started to fire at the MECH soldiers. The firefight was intense as both human and bot shot it out while Jackie and Smoke started to take their friends off the berths and slowly carry them to the ship. It was a little hard to carry them being that each former human had different weight sizes, but they managed to carry them nonetheless. Heading back to the action, the three Team Prime members continued to duke it out with MECH. They managed to knock down a few guards here and there, but there were still too many of them. But then there were other soldiers in the watchtowers that got their man-made torrents up and started to aim them at the Autobots. Once they got the guns in range, they immediately started to shoot at them with armor piercing bullets. Bulkhead felt the hits as he shielded himself from them with bullet holes piercing his armor, but not enough to penetrate. He then looked back as he saw Arcee and Bumblebee taking cover at the back of the Jackhammer since their armor wasn't as strong as Bulk's. He had to save them or they would be ripped to shreds. Looking back, he noticed stacks of flammable barrels underneath the catwalks that were connected to the towers. Thinking of no other option left, he took a few of his grenades out and armed them, tossing each of them to the barrels on both sides of the courtyard. As the grenades exploded it blew up the barrels and sent flames near the support beams of the catwalk, melting the metal to the point that it was soft. The troops fell back as the flames that blocked their vision but went back to the task at hand to firing their torrents at the bots. But just as they were getting ready to fire, the catwalks started to tip and fall, causing all the soldiers to fall to the ground with weapons scattered about. Bulkhead smiled and was glad that what he did worked as Arcee and Bumblebee got out of cover and continued to fire. Already, it became a stalemate between the humans and the Autobots as they were shooting with everything they had. At the same time, Wheeljack and Smokescreen continued carrying the former humans off the berths and into the ship. On MECH's side, one of the soldiers named Simmons was crawling on the ground, avoiding the blaster fire as soldiers fell left and right.

Simmons: "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

He continued to crawl until he noticed one of the rifles that was in front of him and was relieved that he found one.

Simmons: "Oh sweet! A rifle!"

He quickly picked it up and started to fire on the Autobots. Just then, Grif came up from behind his friend and demanded that it was his.

Grif: "Um, Simmons? That's my rifle you're shooting. Can I have it back?"

Simmons looked back at his comrade and argued with him.

Simmons: "Sorry Grif, I'm using this! Just pick another rifle! There's like a bajillion of them lying around the ground! Use one of them instead!"

Grif: "But I had that rifle since I was recruited here. Been holding on to it since then. Hell, I let it sleep next to me when I'm in my quarters!"

The last sentence made Simmons turn to Grif and was a little irate about what he said.

Simmons: "Oh you have got to be kidding m-"

But before he could even finish what he was going to say, he got blasted in the back, tumbling to his friend and was knocked out in a loop. The two opposing teams continued to fire as bullets and blaster shots flew towards each other. As they were busy shooting at each other, Wheeljack and Smokescreen got the last former human, Jack, off the berth and into the ship. As they put him in, the Wrecker turned to the Elite Guard member and told him to get the others.

Wheeljack: "That's the last of them. Tell the others to get in the Jackhammer while I get the engine's running."

Smoke nodded as he headed out and told the rest of Team Prime to get in.

Smokescreen: "Our friends are in the Jackhammer! We should leave now!"

Arcee turned back to her comrade and nodded in approval. She then turned to Bee and Bulk and told gave the retreat order.

Arcee: "Time to go! Fallback to the ship!"

The two heard her orders and immediately entered the ship with Arcee following behind. The Director saw them going into the Jackhammer and knew what they were going to do.

Director: "They are about to leave the facility! Focus your fire on the ship! Do not let them take off!"

So the soldiers pointed to the ship and started to fire on it. Even the commander joined in as he took his high powered pistol out and fired at it as well. But just like the Autobots, the bullets didn't faze the ship's armor. Inside the cockpit, Wheeljack and Bulkhead were in the front starting the ship as bullets bounced off the windshield. Noticing all the men surrounding the ship, Jackie decided to go on the defensive. With a quick push on the console, the blasters came online and started to fire on the soldiers, knocking them to the ground. Once the engines started to hum to life he turned to the Autobots that were trying to not step on their now Cybertronian friends and told them to hang on.

Wheeljack: "Prepare for take off!"

With that, he pulled the lever up and the ship took off into the air while the soldiers continued to fire at the Jackhammer. Wheeljack looked down at the goons trying to shoot him down and saw a couple of fuel tankers scattered about. Thinking of a good way to finish this, he targeted the tankers and opened fire on them. One by one, each tanker exploded and sent all of the MECH soldiers flying away from the blast, completely knocked out on impact and explosion. As the blasts happened, the Jackhammer flew away from the facility as the remaining guards kept on firing away. The Director watched as the ship was over his head and left the prison in a matter of seconds.

Director: "Curse them all! They're getting away!"

The commander lowered his pistol and decided to pull one more trick up his sleeves.

Commander Rourke: "Don't worry sir; I'll make sure they won't get away from us."

He turned to one of his soldiers and demanded him to get something.

Commander Rourke: "Soldier, bring me The Big Bang."

The soldier turned to him and saluted.

MECH Soldier 15: "Right away commander!"

* * *

Back in the Jackhammer, the team managed to free their friends and was heading back to their new base. As they were flying in the air, Wheeljack took a quick peek at the former humans and was a little confused by this.

Wheeljack: "You know, I was expecting them to be human, not Cybertronian. What happened to them?"

Bulkhead looked back at his friends too and tried to explain it to him.

Bulkhead: "That Jackie, is a little difficult to explain. I don't even know where to begin."

Arcee turned to the two and decided to end the conversation.

Arcee: "Let's talk about this later. Right now we need to get to our base and keep our distance between us and MECH as much as we can."

The Wrecker turned to the two-wheeler and chuckled about it.

Wheeljack: "What are you talking about Arcee? We've escaped the facility, we should be safe."

Arcee: "Don't count on that Wheeljack. For if I know MECH, they are always full of surprises."

* * *

Back at the facility, two soldiers came up to Rourke carrying a huge crate with the words _'Handle with care'_ on the side. The two then opened up the crate as the Commander slowly walked to it. Looking into the box, he noticed that it was an FGM148 rocket launcher with a remote control computer screen to help guide the rocket to its target and an American Bunker Buster rocket right next to it. He picked it up and looked at the words, _'The Big Bang'_ on the side of the cannon. He then placed the rocket into the cannon itself and placed it on his shoulder, using the scope to get a lock on to the ship that was in the air. The Director looked at him and wondered if what he was doing was right.

Director: "You sure it's a wise idea in blowing up the ship? My test subjects are still in there."

The Commander waited for the system to get a lock on to the ship as he answered his boss's question.

Commander Rourke: "MECH's policy is to prevent any weapon from falling into enemy hands. What you created are weapons for MECH's cause. And now that the Autobots have them, they need to be destroyed at all costs."

After a few seconds, the screen was able to target the Jackhammer and there was a message at the bottom that said, _'Locked on'_. He placed his thumb on the button and smirked to himself.

Commander Rourke: "All right Autobots, consider yourselves grounded!"

The moment he pushed the button, the rocket launcher fired the missile and it flew up to the Jackhammer.

* * *

Right at the same time, Wheeljack heard a siren from inside the cockpit and checked to see what was happening on the radar. What he saw was a small beep that was heading to his ship and getting closer by the second. He was shocked by this and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Wheeljack: "No way…"

Arcee looked at the radar too and repeated herself to him.

Arcee: "What I tell you? We're not out of the woods yet."

Acting on instinct, Wheeljack got his servos on the wheel and warned the others.

Wheeljack: "You guys better hang on to something! This is going to get real bumpy!"

He then pushed the controls down as the Jackhammer took a nosedive to the ground. The team, with the exception of Bulkhead, was dropped to the floor and they and their friends skidded downwards toward the cockpit area. As it made a dive, the rocket went downwards too and followed the ship with sheer accuracy. Bulkhead noticed that on the radar and told his friend about it.

Bulkhead: "Jackie, the missile's tracking us!"

The Wrecker checked the radar too and realized that it was serious.

Wheeljack: "I see it Bulkhead! No way I'm going to let my ship get shot down twice!"

As he was close to the ground, he used his steering wheel to control the ship, as it careened left and right through the mountains and forests. The rocket continued to follow the ship in many directions while avoiding any obstacles along the way.

* * *

Back to the commander, he was watching the screen to see the small camera of the rocket following the Jackhammer. He watched on as the missile continued to track the ship in every direction possible. Rourke continued to see this and was getting a little frustrated about the way the ship was getting away from the projectile.

Commander Rourke: "Aaargh… Give up already!"

* * *

The Jackhammer continued to fly around the woods and mountains, trying to get away from the rocket that was chasing after it. Wheeljack continued to pilot his ship as much as he could as Team Prime and the former humans were being rocked back and forth, nearly tripping over each other. Smokescreen looked at the Wrecker and was getting a little upset about this.

Smokescreen: "You know there are still Autobots recharging back here! Think you can maybe try not to take so many swift turns in one go?!"

Jackie turned to the Elite Guard member and told him that it wasn't that easy.

Wheeljack: "Hey! I have a missile chasing my tailpipe here! Not an easy feat when you're getting shot down."

Wheeljack had to do something before that rocket hit its engines and killed everyone in the ship. Looking at the front, he noticed a mountain-like wall that went up to the top. Noticing the projectile not giving up, he came up with an extremely good idea that can stop this missile. He peeked to Team Prime to give them a huge warning.

Wheeljack: "Y'all better grab on to something, 'cause this is going to be one quick climb!"

He pushed the wheel forward and sped right at the rock-like wall with the rocket inching closer to the Jackhammer. Bulkhead noticed that and had a worried look on his face.

Bulkhead: "Jackie, what are you doing?"

Wheeljack: "Just trust me on this one Bulk, it's going to be a blast."

The Jackhammer continued to move closer to the rock wall, as Team Prime was able to get up to see what the Wrecker was doing. When they noticed the rock wall, Arcee looked on in pure shock and knew this was troublesome.

Arcee: "Oh slag…"

As the ship was a few feet from the wall, Wheeljack pulled the controls up and the ship did a quick tilt upwards, just missing the wall by a fraction of an inch. The rocket that was following it did the same, but hit the wall a second too late, exploding on impact and shot flames ascending upwards. Bulkhead and Wheeljack remained in their seats as they sped upwards to the top of the cliff. Unfortunately for the rest of Team Prime, they didn't have any seats and they plummeted to the back end with their former human friends rushing on top of them, one of which, who was Jack, falling onto Arcee. After five or ten seconds, the Jackhammer flew up to the top and was back in the air with a huge explosion of flames coming after it. The ship then up righted itself and flew safely in the air. Jackie took a quick breather and was glad that they got out of that mess. He looked back at the team and checked to see if they were all right.

Wheeljack: "Anyone still online?"

Smokescreen and Bumblebee groaned to themselves as they got up and gently pushed the sleeping bots off of them. Bee rubbed his helm and remembered about Ratchet's experience with Wheeljack when they were split up to search for a couple of Iacon Relics.

Bumblebee: _**(Now I know why Ratchet doesn't want to fly with Wheeljack.)**_

Smokescreen: "Tell me about it. His flying techniques make him act like a Decepticon Seeker!"

The Elite Guard looked down and noticed Arcee, who was on top of Jack and had her face planted on his. Curious, he nudged his pede on her to her to see if she was awake.

Smokescreen: "Arcee, you all right? Don't tell me you got knocked out by Wheeljack's flying!"

As he was trying to get the femme up, she reacted by pushing off of her partner and rolled over to the floor. To both mech's surprise, her optics were wide and she was blushing on her protoform skin. Looking back and forth between the sleeping Jack and the two-wheeler. The two realized what had happened.

Smokescreen: "Whoa… Did you just…"

Arcee shook from the shock and got up, dusting herself and pretending that didn't happen.

Arcee: "I'm fine! I'm in one piece. Let's not talk about what happened. Not another word…"

She slowly walked away and ignored the incident that just happened. The two mechs remained silent for a while until Bumblebee said one little word to summarize what he saw.

Bumblebee: _**(Awkward…)**_

* * *

Back at the facility, Commander Rourke saw the ship flying upwards as the rocket exploded and destroyed the video feed on it. He saw nothing but static on the screen with a message that said, _'Target lost.'_ He was angered about this as he threw his rocket launcher to the ground with such force that it was nearly bent.

Commander Rourke: "Damn it!"

The Director sighed to himself as he too knew that the Autobots escaped and had his test subjects in their possession. But he remained calm and collected as he watched the enemy fly away. Just as things couldn't get any worse, one of the soldiers came to the two and gave them some bad news.

MECH Soldier 16: "Sir! We got word from one of our scouting parties around the facility."

The Director turned to the soldier and asked about that news.

Director: "What is it soldier?"

MECH Soldier 16: "They've spotted a military convoy on the freeway loaded with soldiers and munitions. I think it's some kind of strike force. They are on their way to this facility. ETA seven minutes."

The commander turned to him and was shocked by this turn of events. He turned to the Director and told him about what just happened.

Commander Rourke: "With most of our hardware destroyed by the Autobots, we're nearly defenseless against the military. What should we do Director?"

The head scientist gave that some thought and looked at the soldier for the question.

Director: "Is all the equipment for the project packed away?"

MECH Soldier 16: "Yes sir! Everything is packed up and ready for departure."

With that said, the Director nodded and turned to Rourke for further orders.

Director: "Commander, we're evacuating the facility. Have all soldiers and scientists leave the area at once. Anyone that's severely wounded will be left behind. Have all research about our operations saved into backup disks and purge all main computers to prevent any leaks of this project. Be sure you transport everything we need about our new location where the alternative power source is located. You have five minutes to get all this done. Don't waist a single second of it."

The commander nodded and responded with a serious tone.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir!"

He then gave the word to the others soldiers to evacuate the area. As he was doing that, the Director looked at the sky where the ship left and sighed to himself.

Director: "The board won't be pleased by this. They won't be pleased at all."

* * *

Back at the Autobot's new base of operations, the Jackhammer flew over Lake Erie and headed back to the opening it came out of. Inside the garage, Ratchet was waiting for them patiently as the ship entered and made a safe landing. He knew the ship came when the proximity alarm sounded and saw the ship heading back to base. Now he was at the garage, waiting for Team Prime to arrive. Once the back opened up and the ramp lowered, Arcee slowly walked out and saw the medic staring at her coldly. Looking at all the bullet dents and scratches on her body armor, he sighed and asked her about her little mission.

Ratchet: "I can see you had a productive trip."

The femme just ignored him and walked past him, trying to play it cool.

Arcee: "Don't get me started Ratchet. It was just a little misadventure. There's nothing to worry about."

But that was when Ratchet grabbed her by the arm and argued to her about that.

Ratchet: "Oh there's something to worry about. I specifically told you to not get involved in rescuing those humans, let alone head out in the open when we were being hunted down. But you didn't listen to me did you? No! Instead, you disobeyed orders and went to that MECH facility just to rescue them and look where it got you. You're lucky you and the team made it back in one piece or I would've had to start a list of fallen Autobots that had become victim to a bunch of human cons. And what happened to your friends? Did you rescue them? Well, did you?!"

Arcee just turned her head away, not knowing how to explain what happened to Jack or the others. But Ratchet looked at her expression and interpreted it differently.

Ratchet: "Just as I thought. You failed to rescue them. That's just typical. You should know better that MECH would do anything to keep their existence a secret. I'm pretty sure they must've taken the kids someplace else far away from that facility. Just let this all go okay? They are no longer our concern."

Arcee glared right at the medic and responded in a cold dark voice.

Arcee: "Is that what you think?"

Just as she asked that, an assortment of footsteps was heard on the ramp. Ratchet turned to that direction to see the rest of Team Prime but also saw something that shocked him. What all four mechs were carrying were four different Cybertronians that looked exactly like Jack, Raf, Miko, and June, all in different sizes, color, and body armor. The medic slowly let go of the two-wheeler's arm and was in complete disbelief at the image he was seeing.

Ratchet: "My dear sweet Primus…"

Arcee then slowly faced the medic, cocked her helm toward the new bots and continued with her icy cold voice.

Arcee: "Because right now, they are our concern."

* * *

**And that takes care of chapter seven. Another good long one yes, but at lease I didn't combine this and the last chapter. Now before I leave, there's something I need to add. Now I know I discussed on the top that the season premier of Beast Hunters would be on the 22nd of March. Well, I don't think I'm going to watch it almost immediately. Since I'm doing my version of season three, it all seems to be a bit tedious watching the real season, even if it's the last. What I would do is DVR the whole season and watch it later when I start doing my second episode, just to get an idea of the Decepticon fortress and Predaking. But if you guys are going to watch Beast Hunters, let me know how it is on the reviews or private messages. But don't spoil anything for me! I want to be in the dark on what's bound to happen with the Autobots and how they are going to survive. Now on the next chapter, the friends of the Autobots are going to wake up and see their new selves. What will their reaction be? I'll tell you, it won't be pleasant. Please Review.**


	8. Awakening

**All right, before I get started with this chapter, there's something I need to share with all of you. Just recently I've posted up another Transformers Prime story that doesn't involve my version of the third season. This is a bit of a crossover between Transformers Prime and Gunslinger Girl and it involves Jack's father. If you don't know what Gunslinger Girl is, I suggest that you rent it on Netflix or watch instantly online. I got to tell you, this anime is pretty serious and well animated. I also strongly suggest that you read my crossover story too because I might incorporate that into my third season. Last thing I want is for everyone to get confused when they continue reading this story arc now can I? Time to check out what people are saying. Got nine reviews on the last chapter and the entire story are up to 115 reviews and climbing. Most of them were guest reviews but I didn't see any reviews from other long time readers. Not that I'm complaining or anything, at least I'm glad that they're reading my stories. Plus I have almost nine hundred hits on the last chapter and that continues to grow everyday. I'm just hoping that this would continue since Beast Hunters has already started. But I'm sure everyone will check that season and my season to see which one is better. Let's see what happens next on chapter eight of my version of TFP Season 3. Jack, Raf, Miko, and June finally woke up from their recharge and saw the new cybertronian forms. What would their reaction going to be after seeing that? Not pleased that's for sure. Let's take a quick read and see for ourselves.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Now I've done something on chapter three through a viewer's request that involves using quotation marks without the name next to it. This time, I'm going to try it out on POV's and see how that would work out. I guess you can't guess who this POV will be.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime.**

* * *

Chapter Eight: Awakening

_Agent Fowler,_

_Maybe I wasn't clear on this when the invasion in Jasper happened. I specifically told you to make sure that the Autobots remain in their new base until the Decepticon heat is out of the way. But telling them to stay put is like telling little kids to not get into too much trouble. If you didn't know about this, let me be a little specific._

_Less than an hour ago, I sent a strike force to infiltrate the Saddy Brooks Correctional facility where MECH had set up a base of operations. Their mission was to attack the base and rescue the former interns that worked for the Autobots. But upon entering the facility, they discovered that the place was both demolished and abandoned. Tanks were blown up, towers were destroyed, and a building that housed some kind of power generator was nothing but a pile of rubble. We managed to find some survivors that were left behind and asked them what happened to the facility. One of them, who was able to regain consciousness thank god, told us that the Autobots arrived there and laid waste to MECH's base._

_Yes, that's right. You heard me. The Autobots left their base and headed to the facility so they could rescue them on their own. That didn't sound like them remaining in their base, is it? Now I can pretty much understand that they care for these so called interns and they are best friends with them since the time they met, but they need to understand that the civilians are no longer under their protection. It's supposed to be humans protecting humans, not huge robots protecting humans!_

_Not that any of it matters now since the facility was empty and these civilians were nowhere to be found. They need to understand where their place is on this planet. Head back to their base and ask about what happened back there. Teach them a little lesson about disobeying human laws and let them know that there will be some severe consequences. This is strike two, Agent Fowler. Don't make it strike three. Last thing I want is to lose a fine agent like you._

_Sincerely,_

_General Bryce_

* * *

An hour has passed since the rescue mission and in the Autobot's new base, there was an eerie silence within the main room. Every bot in the area was completely quiet, trying to cope with what had just happened. Team Prime's mission was to head to the facility and rescue their friends from the hands of MECH and this Director they saw. What they didn't expect were their friends being turned into Cybertronians through energon and genetic altering. Just looking at their new forms caused the Autobots to feel terribly disturbed. In fact, each member had different feelings for these former human friends.

Bulkhead was one of those bots. Since he had met Miko, it was always about fun and games. They'd done everything together, from listening to heavy metal to dune bashing, to watching monster movies and even heading to a few monster truck rallies. But at other times, things would get serious and they had to look out for each other. Whether it was a Scraplet infestation in the base, the data cylinder that nearly made the Wrecker forget about his life, the cave-in at the mine, or the Tox-En exposure that almost got him offline, Miko had always been by his side, through thick and thin. But now this happened, and the Wrecker was at a loss for words. It was hard for him to accept that his best friend was now a metallic femme.

Bumblebee was spark-wrenched too after seeing Rafael in this condition. When they first met, it was like a bond between the two, being that they were both young and energetic. And just like the other Autobots, Raf could actually understand what he was saying through his beeps and boops. There were times when things took a serious turn for the worse, like when Megatron attacked the scout and nearly killed Raf from exposure to Dark Energon. Or the time MECH took Bumblebee's T-Cog and prevented him from transforming. But they were able to recover from that and everything was back to normal. But the moment Bee saw his friend in this state, he doubted whether things would ever be back to normal.

Then there was Smokescreen. Since coming to Earth after escaping a Decepticon prison vessel, he didn't know much about the humans the team was caring for. On the surface, they seemed just like him, all full of spunk and ready for some fun. When Jack was teaching him about driving laws and not getting himself known to the public, they had become a tag team duo in pranking both Vince and the boss at K.O. Burger. But after that debacle, when Smokescreen took Jack to retrieve the Star Saber, things took a turn for the worse, and the boy almost got killed by a group of Insecticons. Because of that, the Elite Guard member now understood about the safety of not only the three kids, but also the entire human race. And after what he saw back at the MECH facility, he now realized that they needed to be protected more than ever.

Wheeljack was a different story though. He only met the kids once after the mess with Makeshift and didn't stay around with Team Prime for long. But Miko was different from the other two. After Bulkhead got infected by the Tox-En and nearly offlined by Hardshell, he wanted to get revenge for what had happened. Miko insistently tagged along and helped him get the Insecticon out in the open. He tried to make sure the young girl headed back to base if things went downhill for him. But instead, Miko used one of the Jackhammer's missiles to terminate Hardshell, saving Jackie from joining the Well of the All Spark. He even made her an honorary Wrecker for her brave actions. Who would've thought that it would've come down to this when he saw her in her Cybertronian form?

All four of them were waiting patiently around the command center to find out what had happened to their friends. After what felt like hours, the doors that led to the medical ward opened and Ratchet stepped out. He was still in a state of shock after the examinations. Ever since the kids came on board, he had considered them an annoyance, especially Miko and her little guitar solos. But they did help out on many occasions, such as the time they had to take the Energon Harvester from the museum. Or the time they had to get the ground bridge online during the Scraplet infestation. Or when he asked Raf to install a virus into Laserbeak so it could download the Iacon data to the base without Soundwave noticing. Not to mention June helping the medic after Raf almost succumbed to the Dark Energon exposure. But after all that, he still felt they were a bother to him. That was probably the reason why he wasn't inclined to pick them up from school; he was too busy helping the Autobots save their home world and ending eons of war. But now look where it all got them! They lost a war, the Omega Lock is destroyed, their old base is no more, and Optimus is gone. And now the kids and June have been turned into Cybertronians, thanks to MECH.

Arcee managed to give him the details about what happened to them, along with Wheeljack, and he still couldn't believe it. It was hard to accept the fact that everything had changed for the worse, and Ratchet appeared to be at the center of all of this. For the medic, it was another piece of guilt that will haunt him in his spark.

After seeing them in this state, he told the Autobots to take them to the medical bay where he would do an examination to see what had changed. He had been checking up on each of them for almost an hour, and used most of his equipment to see if there was anything different - or the same - about them. After doing all he could, he returned to the main room to give the team a status, while Arcee remained in the med bay in case they began to wake up. Wheeljack was the first to ask as he got off the wall with his arms folded and approached the medic.

Wheeljack: "Well doc, what's the diagnosis?"

Ratchet turned to the Wrecker and was quiet for most of the time. He then turned to the rest of the team and gave them the truth.

Ratchet: "To be honest, I really don't know."

There was some silence within the room as Smokescreen got up from a metal crate and wasn't sure what to say to the doc's final word.

Smokescreen: "What do you mean you don't know? You were supposed to check how our friends are doing, and you have no idea on their condition?"

He then turned to the Elite Guard member and explained to him about this as simply as he could.

Ratchet: "What I mean to say, is that what I saw was fragging impossible! On the surface, they all seem to be fine and recovering well. Their spark rates are normal, their energon pressure is average, their T-Cog's are functioning, their ventilation breathing is ordinary, and processor wave activity is on a green. But that's in Cybertronian terms. In human terms however, there's nothing human about them. They have no DNA code, no blood samples, no internal organs, no nothing! They are 100% Cybertronian! I just can't believe that a single human would do this to his own kind."

Bulkhead then got up from his own crate and started to explain to him what they saw.

Bulkhead: "Believe me when I say this Ratchet, it happened, and we saw this. Silas knows how to create a Cybertronian through biology, but the Director… He can create a complete Cybertronian both inside and out. This is sickening what this person did to them. Can you at least do something to fix this?"

Ratchet turned his head away from him and thought of what he would try to do.

Ratchet: "To be honest, this is a bit of a situation we have. Arcee told me that the process is irreversible, and I don't have the slightest clue how to revert them back to their old selves without harming their well being. Right now, all we can do for them is comfort them, so they can learn how to adjust to their new lives."

All of the Autobots lowered their heads and understood what the medic meant. Though they hated to admit it, they have to accept the fact that their friends would remain in the condition they are in. Ratchet then walked past the Wrecker and mumbled something.

Ratchet: "This is what happens when we drag humans into this war. The consequences could be completely dire…"

Unfortunately for him, Bulkhead overheard what he said and was boiling over. He then turned to the medic and told him what he thought.

Bulkhead: "It's your fault they are even in this predicament! If you would've picked the kids up from school while we were saving your home world, then they would've-"

But Ratchet turned back to the Wrecker and spat back.

Ratchet: "Don't you dare place the blame on me! If you want to blame this on someone, it has to be MECH! They were the ones that turned your friends into us; they're the party responsible for what has happened to them. I had nothing to do with that!"

Bulkhead: "Oh really… Like you had nothing to do with the kids being captured by cons and held for ransom? Or when Megatron used the Omega Lock as a weapon to attack Earth? Or maybe it has to do with the fact that the Decepticons found our old base, destroyed it, and took Optimus's life!"

Ratchet remained silent and turned his head away, trying to keep his composure about what happened to his old friend. Bulk saw this and decided to give the Medic the ultimate truth.

Bulkhead: "Look Ratchet, I know you're upset about what happened on Cybertron. We all are. But you should take a good look around before you put the blame on somebody. We've spent eons trying to end this war and it cost us our planet and we did all we could to survive. But all of that changed when we landed on Earth and met with friends that shared the same sacrifice as us. See, this war isn't about Cybertron or our survival; it's about protecting this planet and the humans that live on it. That's why we take care of the kids, doc, to protect them as much as they protect us. But now everything has changed, and Earth is now in grave danger from this Decepticon threat, which means that protecting this planet is now our top priority. Face the facts, Ratchet. All this that was happening for the past few vorns, everything that went wrong for all of us, is centered on you. Now you go on ahead and try to deny it all you want, but you can't escape the truth that everything changed because you didn't take the time to take care of the children like we did."

Ratchet heard what the Wrecker said and didn't know how to respond to that. Sure they lost Cybertron during the war, sure they had to leave their planet and survive, but they never had much of an option. But when they came to Earth, everything changed for Team Prime. They made great friends with these kids and had many adventures together. He never had that chance since he'd been stuck at the base handling medical and monitor duty. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he never cared about this planet, being that he always had been cooped up at the base.

But whatever the case, Bulkhead was right about everything. The cons now have this planet in danger and they need to do everything they can to protect it. They don't want Earth to fall like other planets before it. But there was another question that still gnawed at him. Was Bulkhead and Fowler right about what they said? Did his actions cost them the war, Cybertron, and quite possibly this planet? He could deny it all he liked, but the thoughts kept nagging at him time and time again. If he were to turn back time, he would've picked up those children and brought them to their base, safe and sound. But he was so focused on bringing their planet back, that he never had the time to take care of what was more important to the team. And now look where it got them. He might want to apologize for the mess they were in. But the only person he would apologize to would be Optimus. The thought of their leader staying behind to prevent the cons from looking for them still haunted him. He just wished none of that did happen. Now all hope was lost. As he was thinking about that, he heard a buzzer sound and a green light was blinking. It got the other Autobot's attention too and they headed to the screens to see what it was.

Bumblebee: _**(A proximity alarm?)**_

Smokescreen: "Who could be heading to us in the middle of the night? Could it be Decepticons?"

Ratchet checked the monitors and typed away on the terminal to see who's getting close to the base. After looking at the security cameras around the base, he noticed a brown car heading their way. But inside the car was a familiar face they all knew so well.

Ratchet: "It's Agent Fowler. Now I wonder why he's coming here?"

He slowly turned toward the Autobots, knowing why Fowler was coming. The group then headed to the base's entrance as the car entered. Once the car was in park, Agent William Fowler came out of the driver's seat and he didn't look happy.

Agent Fowler: "RATCHET! What in the name of Uncle Sam is wrong with you!?"

The medic looked at him and tried to play it coy.

Ratchet: "What are you talking about Agent Fowler."

The agent sighed to himself and decided to make things a little clearer.

Agent Fowler: "All right, let me make things clear for you. A little over an hour ago, General Bryce sent in a strike team to infiltrate MECH's facility to rescue your friends. By the time they got there however, someone had already beaten them to it. The place looked like it went through a combination of firefight and demolition crew. Fortunately there were people there still alive, but seriously injured. By the time we asked them what happened, they all said the same thing. The Autobots attacked them. Now I don't know how your kind does business on your planet, but Bryce gave you all strict orders to not leave this base. Now which part about what just happened sounds like not leaving the base?"

There was a bit of silence through the command center as the team looked at each other wondering how to respond. The medic then took a breather and started to explain it himself.

Ratchet: "Agent Fowler, I can tell that you're upset about what just happened. But please understand that I followed those orders to the letter. The team however disobeyed your protocols and decided to rescue the kids and June by themselves."

The agent looked at Ratchet and could tell that he was telling the truth, but he turned to the rest of team and wanted to know what happened.

Agent Fowler: "Is that so? All right then, perhaps the rest of you can tell me why you disobeyed the general's orders and went to the facility. I want to know…"

The team looked at each other and decided it's best to tell them. Smokescreen was first up and started the story.

Smokescreen: "After you told the news about MECH taking the kids, Arcee was more than a little upset about this and stormed off. We tried to calm her down, but she told us that she cared for Jack, the same way we cared about the others. We wanted to save them, but with the Decepticons searching for us, it wouldn't be an easy feat. That's when Wheeljack came in and helped us by giving us some EDs"

That last sentence caused Fowler to raise an eyebrow in sheer confusion.

Agent Fowler: "EDs?"

Wheeljack came in and explained that to him.

Wheeljack: "Energon Dampeners, something I created. It's used to shield an Autobot's energon signature from any Decepticon search parties. I was going to give them to the team after my ship was fully repaired and I would leave, but with the news I heard, I had to be the Good Samaritan and help them out with their problem. Gave them those dampeners along with providing a ride to the place. I also gave them a few other special toys to use."

Bulkhead then came in and finished the story.

Bulkhead: "We know what we did was stupid, but hear us out. The reason why we did that is because we care for these kids and we would do anything to protect them. They really treat us like family in a way. Besides, if your military headed to the facility, MECH would know you were coming and clean everything out, including our friends. We could not let that happen."

Agent Fowler listened to their words and could understand what they were trying to say. They needed to save their friends and this was their only shot at doing it. It might be dumb, but at least they had an explanation for it.

Agent Fowler: "Hmm… I can understand your reason for not following orders and cannot blame you for your actions. But that won't cut it with General Bryce. He's going off his rocker at the stunt all of you pulled and it cost us a chance at rescuing your friends. Unless I can give him something positive when I come back, he might have no other choice then to send you to the junkyard to melt you all into scrap metal."

Everyone looked at each other and wondered if they should tell him about what happened to their friends. Thinking they had no other choice, they started to talk about it, slowly.

Bulkhead: "Yeah… About that… We got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we found our friends in the facility and got them out of there safely."

The agent looked at the Wrecker and smiled upon hearing the news.

Agent Fowler: "Excellent! At least there is something good out of this mess. Well where are they? Are they all right? Can I go and talk to them?"

There was a bit of silence as the team didn't know what to say. After what happened to their friends, it would be hard to explain to Fowler about the situation they were in. So the Elite Guard member stepped in and started telling the bad news.

Smokescreen: "Then there's the bad news. See, MECH did something to our friends that permanently changed their lives."

Fowler then turned to Smoke and was now getting a little worried.

Agent Fowler: "What do you mean 'permanently changed their lives'? What did MECH do to them?"

Again more silence as Smokescreen tried to explain this to him.

Smokescreen: "Well…"

* * *

As he was trying to explain the situation to the agent, in the medical bay was a whole different story. All four newborn Transformers were resting on the berths with monitors checking their spark rates and IV drips loaded with energon to keep them sustained. Next to Jack was Arcee, sitting on a steel crate with her arms wrapped around her knees. Ever since they came back to the base, the two-wheeler remained in the ward just to see if they would wake up. She even asked Ratchet if she could stay behind to see whether there was any change in their status. He agreed since they needed someone to keep watch and see whether they finally managed to awaken from their long recharge. Looking at her friends, she couldn't help but to feel distraught about what had happened. Just cycles ago, they were normal everyday humans, and now they've been turned into full grown Cybertronians. She was shocked to see that MECH had the technology to create her kind by using humans as test subjects. None of these four wanted their lives and futures taken away from them for someone else's experiment! Not Raf, or Miko, or even June.

And then there's Jack. She turned to look at him, sleeping peacefully, and was in more pain about him than with the others. She didn't want this to happen to him, not after what he'd been through for the past few months. And to think, this all got started when Jack mistook her for a regular motorcycle. That was the day when the two met. Since then, they've been through many adventures together, from Airachnid's appearance and survival, going to Cybertron to help retrieve Optimus's memory, the mission in the subway tunnel to get the Iacon Relic, and all those rides she took him on during her patrols. Sure, they had some bad times together, like when Silas and Airachnid kidnapped Jack's mother or the mess Smokescreen dragged him into, where he nearly got killed by a small group of Insecticons. But at least they managed to get through it. Now things have changed and MECH, this Director, threw Jack's old life away and replaced it with this new life. Just the thought of the Director's actions boiled her to the very core of her spark as she mumbled to herself.

Arcee: "Slag him! Slag that Director for turning Jack, his mom, and his friends into a science project. I swear the next time we meet, I won't hesitate in ending his life."

She immediately calmed herself down and her conscience was telling her that killing wouldn't change anything. And it was true; she had the courage to hold her anger over Airachnid and fought her to the point of trapping her in that Insecticon stasis pod. She wasn't like her, and it proved that she's much stronger, both physically and mentally. Even so, she couldn't change the fact that Jack is now a Cybertronian and there's no way for him to return to his old self. Looking back at him, she could tell that he's very peaceful when he's asleep. Then she thought back to the incident in the Jackhammer when both she and Jack had that awkward kiss. Placing her digits across her lips, she could still remember the second the kiss happened. It felt so weird at first, but as time passed she seemed to like it bit by bit. It was quite relaxing, and it helped soothe the femme's nerves, even for a bit. Staring at Jack, she let go with a small smile and something came into her processor – but then slipped out in words…

Arcee: "Got to admit though, for an Autobot he does look like such a hunk."

But the second she said that, her optics blinked as she suddenly realized what she said. Mentally slapping herself, she tried to ease her processor.

Arcee: "Focus Arcee, focus! Jack is a victim in all of this, not a crush. Don't get yourself distracted by his looks, his body, his appeal…his handsomeness… Slaggit! I did it again! I got to stop doing that!"

Just as she was trying get that out of her processor, she heard a moan coming right next to her. Turning back, she could see that Jack was starting to come to.

Arcee: "Jack?"

* * *

Jack's POV

_**Recharge Complete…  
Power Levels 100%  
Initiating final system checks…  
Stand by…  
Mechanical Systems (online)  
Weapons Systems (online)  
T-Cog Functionality (online)  
Internal Systems (online)  
Back Up Systems (online)  
Processor (online)  
Energon Levels (normal)  
Spark Rate (normal)  
Final systems checks complete…  
Rebooting memory banks…**_

What happened? Where am I? Who am I? Wait! I think I know my name. It's Jackson Darby, Jack for short. That's right! That's my name! Well at least that's out of the way. Wait, I also remember other stuff too. I remember that I have a family. I have a mom named June and a dad named John. I had seen my childhood from good times and bad. I also remember my friends whose names are Raf and Miko. I then remember a small group of alien robots that came from another planet. I think they were from Cybertron and they're Cybertronian. They were Autobots and they are engaged in a war against another form of Cybertronians called Decepticons. That's it! Now I remember everything clearly. I remember the Autobots and their war. I remember Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen. I also remember Arcee and the day that we met, though a bit unexpected, but it was a clear memory. I remember all those missions and adventures I had with my friends. All the ups and downs I had with the Autobots. I even remember when Optimus gave me the Key of Vector Sigma and I used it to help him regain his memories. All of it is coming back to me now! It's so weird…

Hold on… I'm also remembering stuff that happened recently too. I remember Raf, Miko, and I were captured by the Decepticons and taken to Cybertron as part of some ransom. The Autobots, knowing that they don't want to risk any human lives, surrendered the Omega Keys just to save our lives. Then Megatron used the Omega Lock as a weapon and attacked Earth and Optimus had to destroy it just so he can save my home. But it was all too late as the Decepticons created some kind of citadel or fortress of some kind close to our base and launched a full-scale attack. We had no other choice but to evacuate the base and separate to avoid capture while Optimus stayed behind and destroyed the ground bridge controls to prevent the cons from knowing our location. We spent a week keeping one step ahead of the cons and hid ourselves from them as best as we could. If it hadn't been for the military finding us and taking us to one of their bases to stay safe, then we would've been as good as scrap. I also remember the Autobots moving to their new base of operations underneath Lake Erie, the news of what happened to Optimus, the base, and my hometown, and then having no other choice but to be taken away from the Autobots and moved into some protection program to keep us safe. That was of course short-lived as I remembered MECH attacking the convoy my friends, mom, and I were in and kidnapped us. The last thing I remembered was us being trapped in these tubes and this person called the Director was using us for some kind of project he'd been working on. There was energon surrounding us, then electrical shots, and then… Then… I can't remember anything after that. Did anything happen to me while I was out? Did anything happen to my friends and my mom? I want to know…

_**Memory banks rebooted…  
All systems online and operational…  
Stand by for awakening procedures…**_

Wait, what… What is all this information that's in front of me? What is happening to me?! Hold on, I think I'm waking up! My eyes feel heavy and the images are a little blurry, or does it look a little like…static? I can't tell which. But when I can fully see, I notice I'm in a huge room and am lying on something flat and hard. I try to get up, but something is strange with my body. It feels heavy, yet at the same time it's light. This is strange, even for me.

Arcee: "Jack?"

I then hear a voice to the left side of me that sounds so familiar. I turn in that direction and see a female robot with blue armor and pink highlights in a few places. Gazing into her light blue purplish optics, I know who she is.

"Arcee? Is that you?"

I try to get up with much difficulty and sit on the metal bed, just to talk to her. But as I talk to her, I hear my own voice and it sounds strange. I mean, it sounds like my own voice, but it's more metallic than human. Arcee notices me trying to struggle and tries to stop me.

Arcee: "Easy there partner, you're still recovering from your experience. You need to start taking things slowly."

I'm able to sit down and take a breather, knowing that I'm a little woozy from getting up.

"Sorry Arcee, guess I was a little out of it. What happened? Where am I?"

Arcee: "Back at the Autobot's new base of operations. We heard that you were taken by MECH and we had to rescue you."

"Rescue me? How were you able to do that without getting caught by cons?"

Arcee: "Long story… What matters now is that we found you and the others and got you out of the MECH facility in one piece."

I'm glad about the fact that the Autobots managed to rescue me. But I want to know one more thing.

"What about mom and my friends? Are they alright too?"

Arcee: "June and the kids? They're fine. We managed to rescue them as well. They are also recovering from their experience. You're the first person to wake up from your rest."

I sigh in relief knowing that my friends and my mother are safe and sound as well. But still, there's something that's been bothering me since I woke up. Other than the metallic voice and weight of my body, I feel like I'm a little bigger than Arcee, based on how we two are sitting. In fact, Arcee keeps staring at me strangely, and is making me feel a little uncomfortable. So I ask her about it.

"Why are you looking at me like that? And why do I feel strange and you looking a little smaller?"

Arcee turns her head away, like she's keeping something from me. Taking a deep breath, she tells me what she is thinking.

Arcee: "Well, let me be honest with you. Before we were able to rescue you and the others, MECH did something that ultimately… changed you. But don't worry; once you get used to this I'm sure we can work something out."

I'm a little confused by what she's talking about, and I feel my head throbbing. I place my hands on my head and try to process all of this.

"What are you talking about? Aaargh… My head feels like it's about to…"

I slowly stop what I was saying and notice something that shocks me. Looking at my hands, I see that they aren't human hands. Instead they're made out of metal and there's some kind of armor on my arms. The fear soon escalates as I look at the rest of my body, all decked out in armor and metal. I begin hyperventilating as I feel my pulse escalating. Slowly I look at Arcee and she can tell that I've discovered the truth. She tries to calm me down.

Arcee: "Now Jack, please calm down. Take some deep breaths and I'll explain everything."

But I don't listen. I panic, looking for some kind of mirror to see myself.

"Mirror! Where's a mirror?! I need to see myself!"

I look around for something to see myself. I notice a tool tray that had a reflective surface close to me. I quickly knock the tools off the tray and was going to see myself. But Arcee got up and grabbed my wrist, trying to stop me. I look at her and could tell that she was worried about me.

Arcee: "I don't think that's a wise idea partner. Ratchet said the shock alone might-"

But I shove her away with my unknown strength while Arcee staggers back with surprise in her optics.

"I need to see myself!"

I grab the tray and slowly raise it up to my face. I can hear Arcee's voice trying to ease me, but I'm not easily distracted by the situation I'm in. Slowly but surely, I get the tray to myself just to see. By the time I see my face, I'm at a loss for words. It's my face, but it isn't human at all. It's the same light metal skin like the other Autobots, and my eyes are a glowing crystal blue. I'm breathing harder and harder and I can't control my emotions. It's like a living nightmare for me and I'm hoping that I'll wake up from it. But it doesn't come. It's real, it's all too real. Looking at myself in the tray, I do the only thing I can do for something like this. I scream…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

End of Jack's POV

* * *

The rest of Team Prime were gathered around Agent Fowler and tried to explain what happened to their friends. But just as they were going to talk…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the door where the medical bay was located. Fowler heard that too and could've sworn that scream belonged to Jack.

Agent Fowler: "That sounded like Jack!"

He rushed to the med bay to see what was going on. The rest of team prime saw him leave and realized that he would see something that would shock him entirely.

Ratchet: "This won't be good…"

They all followed the agent, knowing that he wouldn't like what he was about to see.

* * *

Back in the medical ward, Jack was in a major panic after seeing himself in his Cybertronian form. He was losing his mind and couldn't control his emotions. Arcee watched his complete freak-out and was trying to get through to him.

Arcee: "Jack, please listen to reason. Just calm down and I'll explain to you what happened."

But Jack still couldn't listen and was having too many questions swirling around his head.

Jack: "No, no, no, no, no, NO! This can't be real! This can't be real! THIS CAN'T BE REAL!"

Arcee lowered her head and sighed to herself, knowing that this wasn't getting her anywhere. So she did something unexpected. She grabbed him by the head, positioned it to hers, and gave him a strict talking-to.

Arcee: "Jack, LISTEN to ME! I'm going to explain to you what happened. But right now, I need you TO CALM DOWN…"

Jack listened to her and took a deep breath. What he experienced was something he didn't expect and wanted some answers to all that he saw. But his panic was not getting him anywhere and it was driving the two-wheeler insane. Once he calmed himself down, he apologized to her for his actions.

Jack: "Sorry Arcee. I don't know what got into me."

The femme just looked at him and smiled pleasantly.

Arcee: "Don't be, partner. I've seen my share of panic attacks most of my life. I get used to them."

The former human boy just smirked and was glad that she still cared even after what happened to him. Just as things were getting back to normal, he heard some moaning coming from behind. He slowly turned in his berth to see who was coming to as Arcee took a peek, and they both realized that the others were waking up, probably as a result of Jack's screaming. What the mech saw was even more of a shocker than himself! Right next to him were Miko, Raf, and his mother June in the same predicament he was in. They were completely Cybertronian with no sign of their human selves anywhere. Jack looked at each of them and was in complete disbelief.

Jack: "Miko? Raf?...MOM?"

June, who was nearest to her son, groaned and felt very dizzy from waking up.

June: "Can someone please turn down the volume? My ears are still ringing."

She then turned to the direction of the scream and saw something she wouldn't believe.

Sitting right next to him was her own son, made into a robot of some kind. Her optics were wide as saucers and she couldn't believe what she was looking at.

June: "Jack? Is that you? What happened to you?"

The son could tell that his mother wasn't fully aware of what happened to her and asked back.

Jack: "What happened to me? Why don't you look at yourself?"

Curious about what he meant, June looked at her own hands and was horrified by what she saw. Flipping her metallic hands back and forth, she was at a loss for words.

June: "Oh my… This is impossible!"

Raf noticed the two Darby's in distress and looked at himself to see if he suffered the same fate too. Turned out he was right and he was completely speechless.

Raf: "No way…"

Even Miko checked out her new body and her reaction…well…

Miko: "This is… This is… So SWEET!"

The second she said that, everyone just looked at her and had that _'Are you serious'_ stare. The former Japanese girl just looked at them and could tell that they were a little confused by her reaction.

Miko: "What? You expected me to be scared after seeing my new body?"

Arcee got up and placed her servos on her hips and had a sly look.

Arcee: "After what you've been through with MECH? Yeah, you could say that."

Miko turned her head away and grunted in defeat. And then, just as if things couldn't get any worse…

Agent Fowler: "Well I'll be George Washington's uncle! Jack? June? Raf? Miko?"

They all turned to the doorway that led out of the medical bay and saw Agent Fowler with a look of complete and utter shock with the rest of the Autobots standing behind him. Arcee noticed his speechless expression and could tell that this was bad.

Arcee: "And it got worse…"

Ratchet looked down at the liaison and tried to reason with him.

Ratchet: "Agent Fowler, I know you now have a lot of questions on your mind. Let us explain what happened and maybe we can-"

But Fowler turned to them and was a little irate.

Agent Fowler: "A lot of questions on my mind? Ratchet, the idea of a rescue mission is to make sure the people that are held prisoner are supposed to be saved unharmed. This doesn't look like they were unharmed! They look a hundred times worse! What happened to them?!"

The team looked at each other and knew this would happen soon enough. So Arcee stepped in and started to explain what happened.

Arcee: "You best fasten your seat belt Fowler, 'cause this might shock you even more than what you just saw."

Fowler just turned to the femme and raised an eyebrow.

Agent Fowler: "Please, surprise me…"

* * *

For the next fifteen minutes, the team told Fowler about what had happened during the rescue. They gave him the details of what transpired with their friends, from the person who was behind the project, to the project itself that started out by turning humans into energon, to their genetic code being altered and removing any human DNA in their system, to turning them into Cybertronian. Fowler listened to every word they said and was in complete disbelief about this. Even the Autobots' friends heard this too and couldn't believe that they'd been through it all and survived. Rubbing his forehead, Fowler tried to process all the information together.

Agent Fowler: "So let's see if I've got this right. You're telling me that this Director, who's in charge of MECH's science division, has created a project that would turn humans into Cybertronians. Not only that, but used your friends over here as guinea pigs for this experiment."

Arcee nodded and finished with what she told him.

Arcee: "You could say that. And as you can see, he managed to successfully accomplish his task."

Fowler looked at the four former humans and was amazed by how they look as Cybertronians. But the one thing that concerned him was whether this was fixable.

Agent Fowler: "And are you sure there is no way of bringing them back to normal?"

The team was silent and didn't know how to say it. So Ratchet looked at him and gave him the bad news.

Ratchet: "Afraid so. From what the others told me, being that they were turned into energon just to alter their genetic code, reversing the process is near impossible. They wouldn't even survive the process to begin with. Long story short, they are going to be like this forever."

The moment he heard that, Fowler just lowered his head and sighed to himself. The former humans themselves were a little depressed about this and bowed their heads, knowing that there was no way for them to go back to living normal human lives. Miko though didn't feel sad as she was trying to cheer them up.

Miko: "Dudes, why the long faces? We should celebrate. We're Autobots for crying out loud!"

Jack just looked at his friend and couldn't believe that she hadn't fully absorbed the seriousness of the situation they were in.

Jack: "Miko, MECH captured us, experimented on us, and turned us into Autobots, with no way of returning us back to normal. And now after all we've been through, you are ecstatic about all of this?"

The girl turned to him and responded the best she could.

Miko: "Duh, Jack! Ever since we met the Autobots, I always wondered what it would be like to be one of them. Now look at me! I'm living my dream! Isn't this the coolest thing ever?"

Jack tried to bring her back to earth and gave her the worst case scenario.

Jack: "And what about your family, or your host parents? What will they think when they see you like this?"

There was a brief silence after Miko heard that question and hard reality began to sink in. Fowler then stepped forward and reinforced what Jack said.

Agent Fowler: "Jack is right, girl. Like I said before, I was able to get your host parents and Raf's family out of Jasper before the cons decided to attack it. After you were all rescued I was supposed to take you to them and keep you safe. But now that this has happened, I don't know what to do."

Miko listened to him and could now understand the situation they were in. Sure it's cool to be an Autobot, but then there were her host parents and real family that are worried about her. And with the condition she is in now, it won't be easy to see them. Thinking about things in that light, she turned her head away and pouted.

Miko: "Boy, you two are major buzzkills in my fantasy."

Raf heard what the two said and buried his knees to his chassis.

Raf: "I wish I could see my family again. I haven't seen them since this whole thing started. They must be worried sick about me."

Bumblebee saw his young friend's expression and started to comfort him.

Bumblebee: _**(Oh Raf… I'm so sorry all this has happened to you. I never thought it would come down to this.)**_

Raf looked up at the scout and could tell he was guilt ridden. So he started to ease him.

Raf: "Don't feel sorry Bee. It's not your fault we're like this."

Jack then came in and did something no one expected.

Jack: "Raf's right Bumblebee. No one saw this one coming, not even you."

All of the Autobots turned to Jack, looking at him like he had two heads. Bee then looked at him too and was surprised with what he heard.

Bumblebee: _**(Wait… You understood what I was saying?)**_

Jack blinked his optics and realized what just happened.

Jack: "Yeah… I actually understood you. Weird…"

Both Miko and June were surprised about that too and were in the same boat as the newly created mechs.

Miko: "You're right Jack. I now know what Bee is saying."

June: "Same here. All those beeps he keeps saying sounds like actual English to me. Didn't expect that one bit."

The team stood there like statues and didn't know what to say. Arcee turned to the medic and wanted his thoughts.

Arcee: "Ratchet? What did we just witness here?"

Ratchet approached the four and was intrigued by this.

Ratchet: "Fascinating… It looks like MECH did more than just change their physical makeup; they've made them into actual Cybertronians. They must've added a translator program during the experimentation to let them understand all languages, whether it be human or alien. That would explain why they understand Bumblebee's binary language."

The team listened in and now got what he was saying.

Wheeljack: "That explains everything. This is going to take some getting used to."

Ratchet then looked at Team Prime and continued giving them a bit more information.

Ratchet: "There's more. While I was running diagnoses on each of the former humans, I discovered that their weapons and gadgets match their personalities, hobbies, and their background. It would seem that MECH and this Director must've done research on each of them for a long time without us even knowing it."

June overheard that and wanted to know how that was possible.

June: "But why does MECH want to add weapons into our bodies? I'm not much of a fighter and the kids are too young for battle."

Arcee turned to the nurse with a theory.

Arcee: "It was obvious that even after you survived the procedure, the Director would want to continue experimenting on you just to get a better understanding of us. He might have even gone to extremes in opening you up, just to see how the inner workings functioned. If it hadn't been for Sumdac, then you would've been put through much worse."

Fowler turned his head to the two-wheeler and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Agent Fowler: "Sumdac?"

Arcee looked down at him and explained a little more.

Arcee: "Professor Isaac Sumdac, I believe he was called. He was the human that helped us find our friends and gave us an assist on escaping. The strangest thing is that he wasn't working for MECH, he was just interning."

The agent rubbed his chin and thought about that.

Agent Fowler: "Hmm… Interesting."

As he was thinking about that, Jack wondered about what to do now. With what happened with MECH, his life, his mother's, and his friends, their lives would never be the same.

Jack: "So now what? We are no longer human and there's no way of returning to normal."

Arcee turned to her partner and noticed the look of concern on his face. Indeed this is a complicated time for him and the others and it's going to be rocky from here on out. That's when she remembered Ratchet saying that they have weapons in their bodies and could be of some use. She turned to the medic and asked him about that.

Arcee: "Tell me Ratchet, are the weapons systems they have operational?"

He turned to her and answered.

Ratchet: "Last time I checked, yes. All their weapons and other types of gadgets are online."

Knowing this, she turned back to the former humans and gave them an answer.

Arcee: "Then it settles it. We start training them."

That got both the medic and the former humans in a major shock as both Miko and Ratchet responded differently.

Ratchet: "What!"

Miko: "Yes!"

Jack then looked at the femme and asked her about that.

Jack: "Arcee, are you sure about that?"

She looked right at her partner and responded back.

Arcee: "Of course I'm sure, Jack. I mean, just look at you. You, your mother, and your friends are now Cybertronian both inside and out and there's no way of returning all of you back to normal. If we can't fix what MECH has done to you, then our only option left is to teach you how to fight, to defend yourself."

Jack thought about this and realized that she was right. Given the situation he and the others were in, their only option was to be like the Autobots, to train and defend for themselves. But when Ratchet heard this, he was fuming at his exhausts and didn't like this idea at all.

Ratchet: "Absolutely not! You're telling me that we have to train these four, who managed to survive the ordeal that MECH put them through? They might have bodies of adult Cybertronians, but they are just like newborn sparklings! You can't train them to fight after what they've been through! They won't last a nanoclick in a Decepticon ambush!"

That's when Arcee had it with the medic as she got up and went face to face with him.

Arcee: "Now you listen to me and listen to me well, Ratchet. All of this wouldn't have happened if you had taken the time to protect our friends while we were trying to save our world. Now they have been turned into our kind because of MECH's obsession with our biology and the Director's ambition in creating new soldiers for whatever he's planning. If we are going to protect them, we have to teach them to fight like Autobots. No exceptions…"

Fowler then came close to the two and explained to Ratchet even further.

Agent Fowler: "Arcee's right, doc. With your friends turned into robots and without any way of changing them back, teaching them how to battle is the only option we have left on the table. Besides, you're going to need a few extra hands since the cons have decided to make our planet their new home away from home."

Ratchet heard these words from both Fowler and Arcee and wondered if what they were saying might be right. Looking back at the former humans, he realized that there was no way of fixing this at all. So helping them train and fight seemed like the only thing left to do.

Groaning to himself, he responded to their words.

Ratchet: "All right, fine. I'll do it. I'm not going to like it, but I'll do it. But I have one condition."

Arcee: "Name it…"

The medic then turned to June and could tell that she wasn't much into fighting. He then turned to the two-wheeler and discussed his terms.

Ratchet: "June is a nurse, not a soldier. There's no way she would fight. If you're going to train them for battle, at least let me teach her about Cybertronian medicine. I might need a little more help now, being that there are a few more additions to the team."

Arcee looked back at the nurse and could tell she's more of a medic then a fighter. She then turned back to him and agreed to his terms.

Arcee: "Done. We'll just give her the basic training and then we'll hand her over to you."

Ratchet nodded and was glad she would agree to his proposal. But Miko wasn't so interested in this conversation as she was psyched about learning how to fight.

Miko: "This is going to be so awesome! I'm going to fight like an actual Wrecker! So when are we going to start? I'm itching for some action!"

Bulkhead then came in and tried to stop her from doing something too drastic.

Bulkhead: "Whoa! Easy there Miko, you're still recovering from MECH's experimentation. You need to rest now until you're fully recharged."

The two-wheeler turned to her and agreed with the Wrecker.

Arcee: "He's right Miko. You can't rush into things you're not ready for. We need to take things slowly before you can actually help us. I say tomorrow when you are fully charged and healed, we will begin on your motor functions just to see if you can stand and walk. Then once you're ready, we can start with the actual training. Can't let you fight cons if you're gonna let yourself fall to the floor now can we?"

Miko heard this and sighed to herself as she muttered her defeat expression.

Miko: "Aw…"

As they were talking about it, Fowler decided to leave them all so they can adjust to what has happened. Smokescreen noticed him leaving and started to ask away.

Smokescreen: "Hey Fowler, where are you going?"

Everyone else immediately looked at him and wondered why he was leaving. That's when Fowler answered them and told them what he was going to do.

Agent Fowler: "I'm heading back to General Bryce to explain about what happened and what you did. I'm also going to call a few contacts at the Pentagon to see if they can gather any information on this Director you've encountered. Don't worry; I'll just give him the good news on what happened to Jack, Raf, Miko and June and keep the whole _'MECH experimented on them and turned them into robots.'_ part on the DL. Last thing we want is for Bryce to take them in and do some autopsies of his own, or worse, have the Army use MECH's knowledge to try to create their own robot soldiers."

The agent then stopped in his tracks and wondered about this project the Autobots heard about and if they were able to stop it. He turned to Team Prime and asked about it.

Agent Fowler: "By the way, were you all able to destroy that project while rescuing your friends?"

There was some form of silence in the room until Arcee spoke up about that.

Arcee: "Yes, about that… We were a little preoccupied with saving Jack and the others from MECH and trying not to get turned into scrap. We didn't have the time to find the machine that turned our friends into Cybertronians and destroy it. Though my best guess is that they must've placed the equipment for the project in the trucks while we were on look out."

The agent lowered his brow and didn't like the news he heard.

Agent Fowler: "Then this is going to be a problem. If MECH still has that project in one piece and it was proven to be successful, we are going to have our hands full on this one."

* * *

**That takes care of this chapter. Another short one yes, but it was very informative and I had to make sure everything is set for the next chapter, which will be a little longer due to what I'm going to do. But it will be interesting cause I'm going to show you the weapons and gadgets they would have to fight. I promise you that you might be surprised. Please Review.**


	9. Training

**Before I could begin with chapter nine, there's something I want to add. Judging by the reviews I've keep on getting, there are a lot of readers that are enjoying my story. Hell, the last chapter I did has a total of 16 reviews and a hit counter of 1,328. So because of this, I want to do something that can get the readers involve. See on the next chapter, I'm going to adding some code names for the kids and June. So far, I already got the code names at the ready but I've been thinking if anyone else has any good code names. So here's the deal. All of your viewers will give me code names for June, Raf, and Miko and I'll see if I can add them to the next chapter. Don't worry about Jack, I got the perfect code name for him that will fit well into my own third season. There are a few conditions I need to state. The code names have to fit their personalities, their skills, or their occupations. Also, you cannot add code names of transformers that already exist in any of the shows and series. I really don't know if other Autobots will make their appearance in Beast Hunters with the exception of Ultra Magnus, so I don't want actual character names added to the kids and June's code names. All I'm saying is to make code names of your own. Just be creative and use your imagination. Let's go to chapter nine of TFP S3 E1 Rebirth. With the new Cybertronians, Jack, Raf, Miko, and June must learn to adapt and train with their Autobot friends. But trouble is starting to brew and MECH is the culprit behind it. What is the Director up to?**

**Chapter Notes**

**As mentioned before, the weapons I choose for the former human companions would be based around their personality, hobbies, and their character within the series. Trust me, you will know the types of weapons they would have when you read it. You'll be in for a really good surprise.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter 9: Training

_'Developing right now, a military strike force infiltrated the Saddy Brooks Correctional Facility, a state prison in Tennessee that was abandon for decades. Not much is known so far from this operation. However from what we can gather is that there was a terrorist organization that was using the prison as a science facility. Details of this organization is still unknown, but a statement from General Bryce proclaimed that it's an investigation they've been working on for some months ago and are trying to determine the organizations purpose. Right now the prison is secured and the authorities have been sent for clean up. Just to be clear, this is a minor incident and it has nothing to do with the attack that happened in Jasper, Nevada over a week ago. We'll gather more information of this story as it develops. It other news today-'_

The news video started to pause as the window grew smaller for another window of an unknown client with a blank avatar to appear.

MECH Board Member 1: _"I'm very disappointed in you Director. Not only did the Autobots breach your defenses, but also the military discovered your exact location. This is will be problematic for MECH. What do you have to say for yourself?"_

A day has passed since the Autobots attacked MECH's facility and free their friends. The Director was sitting in his new office in a facility that houses a reliable power source for his project. The news of what happened at the last facility spread throughout MECH's organization right down to the members of the board. When the head of the board heard of this, he wasn't happy about the outcome. He wanted to talk to the Director about this and wanted his opinion on what happened at that facility. The Director saw the news feed and heard the board member's words. Yet he remained cool and collective about the whole thing. Sitting back with his face concealed in the shadows, he responded in a polite tone.

Director: "I know what happened at my facility was unexpected my friend. But rest assure, not everything is a total loss. We did follow your orders and managed to leave the facility before the military would come in and all the equipment for my project was packed up before the Autobots had come in. All the equipment has already been put together and all the soldiers you've given me are ready for the procedure."

MECH Board Member 1: _"And your test subjects? What about them?"_

He remained quiet about that and decided to tell them truthfully.

Director: "I'm afraid that the Autobots have freed my test subjects and helped them escape the facility. There was nothing I could do to stop them with their fire power and resources that Silas never added to his files."

MECH Board Member 1: "_So you let them escape. That's rather unfortunate."_

The Director sighed and tried to look on the bright side of things.

Director: "Though this incident was inopportune, it still won't cripple our cause."

MECH Board Member 1: _"Is that so?_"

Director: "Indeed… Even without my test subject, I can still use the data from Silas to understand about the weaponry system and the ability to transform. It might take some time, but my soldiers will master them in the coming days and test them out in the field."

MECH Board Member 1: _"But aren't you worried that now that the Autobots freed your test subjects, they might train them to fight as well? You know our policy and what happens when the enemy get their hands on our weaponry."_

Director: "True, but lets look at the picture shall we. These test subjects I've picked were just civilians. If the Autobots were to train them, then they wouldn't stand a chance."

MECH Board Member 1: _"Let's hope you're right about this one Director. The last thing the board wants is their own weapons turned against us."_

Director: "Don't worry my friend; rest assure that MECH will achieve greatness."

MECH Board Member 1: _"For your sake Director, you better not screw this one up. That is all."_

The window with the blank avatar immediately closed and the MECH desktop screen appeared on the computer screen. The Director then thought about what happened and could tell that the board was getting a little restless of what transpired yesterday. But he has no worries as this little mishap didn't damper his grand plan. All he just needs to do is take it one step at a time. Typing in a few key sequences, two new video windows appeared showing Commander Rourke and Professor Sumdac, both in different areas of the new facility.

Director: "Professor Sumdac, give me a report on Project Metamorphosis. What's the status?"

The professor nodded and told him about the project.

Professor Sumdac: _"Everything is in the green so far Director. We've already got twenty soldiers surviving the final phase while we have twenty more ready to be converged. Giving the number of soldiers that are participating in this project, I say we'll have two to three hundred soldiers within the coming days."_

The Director nodded and was pleased with the results.

Director: "Excellent! And Rourke, what's the status of the training grounds? Is it finished?"

The commander looked back at the construction site of the training area and told him about it.

Commander Rourke: _"Just about sir. We still need to put the final touches on the facades and place the obstacles in a few more places. Once we're done with it, we'll have the newly improved soldiers train for battle."_

Director: "Good, we need to make sure that these newly created soldiers are at tip top shape before we send them out in the field. Once they are done with their training, I have a few locations for our new soldiers to have a much more exciting experience."

The Commander nodded and responded back.

Commander Rourke: _"Understood sir. I'll get right on that."_

The talks were quiet so far until the Commander spoke back.

Commander Rourke: _"Sir, can I ask you something?"_

Director: "Go right ahead Commander, I'm listening."

Commander Rourke: _"Did you find it strange that the Autobots were able to locate the test subjects easily without any problems with the search? I mean with the facility that big, it would be impossible looking for them. Not to mention that they managed to get access through the recovery room without any security clearance."_

The Director rubbed his chin and thought about that too.

Director: "You seem to have a good point Commander. Even if the Autobots managed to find the prison, they still wouldn't be able to find the test subjects that easy. Now how were they able to do that is the question? Professor, do you have any ideas?"

Sumdac blinked his eyes and realized that the head scientist was getting a little suspicious. It was obvious that he was the one that helped the Autobots find their friends and helped them in escaping. But if the Director finds out about the truth, then his daughter's life would be at risk. Thinking about a good excuse, he looked at the head scientist and began the lie.

Professor Sumdac: _"I think it has something to do with the energon. From what I could gather, energon is more then just a blood type; it's also a tracking signature. Like a satellite or a car, the energon acts as an energy tracker, marking the specific Cybertronian across the globe. I do believe that the moment they were created, their energon signatures started to show and got the Autobots attention. That could explain why they managed to find their friends so easily. As for how they got access to the recovery room back there, well, it could be them hacking into the security terminal and accessing the codes easily. They are intellectual robots after all."_

The Director thought about that and could agree with the professor.

Director: "You seem to have a good point professor. After what has happened, these Autobots might be more persistent then we think. Doesn't matter, when we meet again then we will have the advantage. Continue with your work professor, I'm hoping to make an army out of my work. You are dismissed."

The professor nodded as his vid screen went off. But Rourke's screen was still active as the Director asked him for a favor.

Director: "Commander Rourke, I need you to do something for me. I want you to investigate Issac Sumdac and the incident at the facility that the Autobots attacked."

The Commander had a questionable look on his face and wondered about the Director's favor.

Commander Rourke: _"Is there any reason for that sir?"_

There was a bit of silence until the Director spoke up.

Director: "Nothing really Rourke. Just need to know if what happened at my facility is connected to the professor…"

* * *

Back in the Autobot base underneath Lake Eerie, training has already begun for the new recruits. Yesterday, Jack, Raf, Miko, and June were captured by MECH and turned into cybertronian versions of themselves thanks to the Director. Thankfully, the Autobots managed to locate them and save them from anymore potential testing. Sadly though the effects are irreversible and there was no way for them to return to normal. So with that option off the table, the only thing the Autobots can do is to train the former humans, making sure they learn to fight and defend for themselves. It would be a difficult process, but with enough work, they would make sure that Jack and the others learn to adapt to their new bodies.

The next day after recover, the first task seemed to be a little simple; relearning how to stand, walk, and run. Now normally, that wouldn't be a problem for the former humans since they know how to do that since they were born. But as they got started, things started to take a turn for the awkwardly funny. It turns out their mechanical legs are different from their fleshy ones because of the many gears that operate the knees, heels, and ankles. So one short step would lead to a trip and let them fall on their backs and face first. Under some occasions, it was a little hilarious to see the recruits make fools of themselves. Even Miko understand what it was like for Bulkhead to take ten steps only to take three to five and then fell forward. But the Autobots managed to help them with walking and slowly guide them to their walking ability. Even Arcee helped out Jack by holding his hand, or servo now that he's one of them and slowly ease him into walking properly. It was kind of strange for her since she was holding him the whole time. Just the thought of that made her blush a little. Still they spent the whole morning with walking and running and they've managed to pass that since they walked once they were human. It will be weird for the former humans, but they will get us to it in a couple of days.

Another thing they need to get use of is their daily intake. See, now that they're Cybertronians they could no longer eat earthly foods, only energon. They were a little hesitant at first when they were holding their energon cubes, but Team Prime showed them how to drink it and told them it was now perfectly safe for them. So with no choice, the former humans slowly started to drink it down. Turns out, the energon flowed down easily into their mouths and down their throats and it had a little bit of an electrical surges once it hit their tanks. Unfortunately, they wouldn't know how energon taste like since their taste buds were removed along with their other human anatomy. But that's the risk they need to take since they have to be cybertronians for the rest of their lives. The bright side is that at least they have something to sustain their bodies. Unfortunately for Ratchet, that would mean that the team had to search for more energon now that they have a few extra mouths to feed. And with the Cons owning almost every untapped mine, it won't be an easy feat.

Now they have moved to the real training that Miko was waiting for. The four former humans stood in a line facing what appears to be a stack of empty oil barrels. Smokescreen walked past each of them and started with the introduction.

Smokescreen: "All right Mechs and Femmes, welcome to Autobot Training 101. Today, we are going to teach you about firing your blasters. Now your blasters are your main offence when taking on Cons whether it be close range or in sniping distance. There are two key targets for taking on the enemy, the spark chamber and the head. Aim at those two and you would take down a drone faster then you can say Omega Supreme. Allow me to demonstrate."

He lifted his servo up and turned it into his blaster. Upon doing that, he targeted a few barrels and fired, knocking each of them off the stack. Once he was done, he reverted his arm back to its original form and smirked to himself.

Smokescreen: "See? It's that simple. Now let's see what you guys got. Jack, you're up first."

Jack nodded and approached the stacks of barrels and were lined up neatly for him. Taking a look at the barrels he tighten his servo like a fist and was about to hit something. But as he was going to do that, his blaster didn't activate for some reason. Confused, he looked back at the team and asked about that.

Jack: "Uh… How do I activate my blasters?"

Arcee shook her head and couldn't help but to chuckle about this confusion. She then slowly approached him and explained on how to activate his weapons.

Arcee: "Activating our weaponry system isn't as easy as a flick of a wrist. Sometimes it's all about focusing on your choice of weapons. Not only do you have to think of your choice of weapons, but in order to activate the weapon itself through two different options. You can either use a certain type of emotion to arm your weapons or activate them by a certain part of your memory. You concentrate on that, and you will arm your weapon. Give it a try."

Jack nodded and tried activating his weapons this way. He closed his eyes to picture the blaster on his servo, then focusing on the type of memory he wanted to use. There were many memories he had stored in his processor, some good and some bad. But there was one memory that he always remembered and it was when his first time driving Arcee. Since they fist met, the femme always drove him around whether it be school, work, the base, or home. Even when they are out on patrol, it's always him sitting back while the two-wheeler was at control of herself. But then one day, Arcee told him to take the wheel. At first Jack was surprised by this, but the moment he took control, it was easy for him to ride her for a change. It was one big step in trust between two partners and it was that one time he cherished.

As he was thinking about it, he heard a sound of metal shifting and gears turning. The moment it stopped, he looked at his servo and notice that he got his blaster out. It was a square type of blaster that's shaped around his arm with four little squares on each corner and it was glowing light blue. Jack was amazed by this and had a loss for words.

Jack: "Wow…"

The others saw that too and was amazed that he was able to get it for the first time. Arcee just looked at him and was pleased with what he did.

Arcee: "Nice work partner, you've got your blasters at the ready. Now target a couple of barrels and let's see how much firepower they contain."

Jack looked at the femme and nodded, then looked at the barrels and tried his new weapon out. Looking at the barrels, something odd happened. A visor came down to cover his face and a mouth guard closed on his mouth, making it look like he was wearing his original bike helmet. On his visor he saw a radar on the bottom left corner of the screen, a spark monitor to check his spark rate on the bottom right, a digital horizontal compass that shows him where we was going on the top, and a targeting sensor in the middle of the screen. Jack was impressed by this and wondered if this can help with his shooting. Looking at the first barrel, the visor screen locked on the target and he aimed his blaster to it. Mentally pulling the trigger, the blaster fired a light blue laser and hit the barrel in point blank range. He was surprised by this and wanted to try it again. He locked on to the next barrel and opened fire. Locked on to another and fire. And again. Once he was finished, he was pleased with how he got them down quite easily. Arcee saw how he fired and whistled to herself.

Arcee: "Not bad Jack, not bad at all. But the Cons won't be standing still like these barrels. Sometimes, they will move around and on occasions go into the air. Here, let me help you with that.

She approached one of the knocked barrels and picked it up. She then used her strength to throw it in the air and called him out of it.

Arcee: "Think fast!"

Jack looked up at the barrel in the air and locked on to the target. Quickly, he pointed the blaster to the barrel and fired on it, knocking it out of the air. As the barrel landed on the floor, everyone just stood there in complete disbelief and never thought he would master the blasters that fast. But for Arcee, she was really impressed by his moves.

Arcee: "Very good Jack! You could've made a soldier in no time flat."

Jack then concentrated on bringing his blaster back into his servo and had his visor and mouth guard out of the way to reveal his face. He turned to her and smiled back.

Jack: "Thanks Arcee, you're a big help."

His partner just looked at him and smiled back, feeling a little kind to him. As that was going on, Smokescreen turned to June and told her to do the same thing.

Smokescreen: "All right June, you're up. Let's see what you can do."

June nodded and went to the stack of barrels while Bulkhead and Bumblebee put them up again. As she got into the position, she started to focus on her blasters and thought of a memory of her life. So far the only memory she could think off was her special day, her wedding with her husband John. It was the most memorable moment of her life. When she heard the clicking sounds, she looked down to see her own blaster that looked like Arcee's only rounder. She looked at the barrels and decided to see how well she shoots, even if she doesn't want to fight, she has to defend herself in some way. She pointed at a few of them and took a couple of shots. Though they were a little sloppy, she managed to hit each of them down easily. When she was done, Smoke took a good look at them and was pleased with June's shooting.

Smokescreen: "Impressive June. I'm pretty sure with a little more work, you would be under a soldier rank."

June turned to him and gave a smirk.

June: "Not my best work, but I think I'll get the hang of it."

The Elite Guard member then turned to Raf and wondered about his blasters.

Smokescreen: "Raf, time to see what firepower you're packing."

Raf gulped silently and approached the barrels as the team placed them back up again. Bumblebee could tell that he's a little nervous and decided to ease him.

Bumblebee: **_(It's all right Raf, it's only a little practice run. Just focus on your blasters and a certain part of your memory and the rest will write itself.)_**

The young Mech turned to his friend and nodded understanding what he was saying. So he closed his optics and thought of his blasters and a memory that was important to him. The one memory he could think of was the day he first met Bumblebee and the connection they had together. It was because the two of them were special in anyways and the young boy understood what the scout was saying. As he thought about it, his blasters came online and he opened his optics up just to see it. What he saw are two compartments that opened up between the sides of his arms and two pointy nodes on each end. The young boy genius looked at his new blasters and was perplexed by it. Smokescreen then joined in and was intrigued by the new type of blasters.

Smokescreen: "Interesting… I never had seen those types of blasters before. Use them at the barrels and let's see what they can do."

Raf gave a small nod and aimed them at the barrels. As he fired, four electrical bolts came out of the nodes and hit the barrels, sending sparks of electricity around them. The team looked on and was in awe by that.

Smokescreen: "Well that's fascinating. Try it again, this time charge your blasters."

Raf looked back at the mech and was a little unsure at first. But since this is his first time with blasters, he decided to give it a shot. So pointing at the barrels again, and focused on his blasters and charged them to full power. The moment he did that, he fired a stronger electrical bolt at the barrels and hit them, sending a much stronger electrical current on all the stacks. Smokescreen and the team were completely awestruck by this and couldn't help but to feel a little happy about Raf.

Smokescreen: "Well now, it looks like MECH gave you some kind of tazer blasters for defense purposes. It could be useful if you need to take out many enemies or get yourself out of a situation. Nice work Raf!"

Raf just looked at the Elite Guard member and gave a warm smile to him.

Raf: "Thanks Smokescreen. At least I have something that can help me out of tight jams."

He then left the joined up with the other recruits. But as he got in line, Miko felt extremely giddy and rushed out of the group before Smoke had the chance to call out her name.

Miko: "Oh, oh! My turn, my turn! All right, so focus on the gun and memory right Smoky?"

He stumbled back as he wasn't expecting the young Japanese girl to go right up to the barrels and wanting to try her blasters out. But since this is her first time trying out her new arsenal, he cleared his voice box and try to calm her.

Smokescreen: "Yeah, you could say that. Just try to calm yourself down. You can't activate your weaponry systems if you get a little overly excited."

Miko just looked at her and groaned to herself. She never expects that there were that many rules when drawing her weapons, but she has to follow them if she was going to fight with the Autobots.

Miko: "Fine, whatever…"

She then started to focus on her blasters and her key memory in her processor. Most of her memories involve her time with Bulkhead of course since those were the best of times. But the one memory that she kept the most was the time of the Data Cylinder incident. When Bulkhead was slowly loosing his memories, Miko was a little upset. She tried everything to get him to remember, but it was all too impossible. Just as the date left Bulk's head and he was near processor dead, she almost loose hope. That was until she did one strum of her guitar and got her best friend back to his old self. That is one memory she hold dear to her heart, or spark. As she was thinking about it, she heard the clicking noises on her arms and could tell that she armed her blasters. But as she looked down at them, she noticed something really off about it. For one they were like Arcee's only they are a little longer and for two it didn't have much of a laser like surface at the end, just a hole with a speaker deep inside. Everyone just looked at that and were a little confused about it. The young mech took a closer look at it as he was as perplexed as the others.

Smokescreen: "Well, this is new. Never seen a blaster like that before. Why don't we give it a try shall we? Target those barrels and let's see what it can do."

Curious herself, Miko pointed her new blasters at the oil barrels and started to fire. As she did that, no blasters came out of it. Instead, it was some kind of super sonic tube that came out with high velocity. The impact of the blast caused the barrels to blew out in stacks and tumbled everywhere on the floor. Everyone had their jaws dropped and was shocked at the girl's firepower. Miko just looked at that and was completely surprised at first. But then that surprise turned into sheer excitement.

Miko: "That's so metal! Those Decepticreeps better watch out now!"

The others just stood there emotionless and couldn't believe their own optics as Bumblebee broke the silence.

Bumblebee: _**(Did I just saw what I think I saw?)**_

Smokescreen then bumped in and answered the scout's question.

Smokescreen: "That the fact that Miko has blasters that can fire ultra sonic waves? Yeah, you can say that. MECH certainly paid no expense in the choice of weapons for our friends."

Ratchet saw this as well and palmed his servo to his head.

Ratchet: "This training is going to be the termination of me…"

* * *

Half an hour later, the next part of the former humans training started. Each recruit was next to four old pick up trucks all hung on hooks and steel chains, all acting as metal punching bags. Bulkhead was near his own as he went on with the next lesson.

Bulkhead: "All right recruits, time for your second lesson. Now in a heated battle you can't rely on your blasters alone. Sometimes a Con will take you on in hand-to-hand combat. If that happens then you must use your secondary weapon to help you fight in close range. Once you have that, then the Cons won't stand a chance with you. Let me show you."

As he said that, he formed his servos into two wrecking balls and hit the old pick up a couple of time. Once he finished punching the metal bag as a demonstration, he turned them back into his servos and continued his lesson.

Bulkhead: "See, that simple. Now just like your blasters, you need to focus on your secondary weapons and the certain memory. It could be the same memory or a different one. Whatever the case, you need to know how to activate your close combat weapon one way or another. Let's see what all of you got. Jack, you're first. Show us what you can do."

Jack gave a quick nod and turned to the car hanging on the chain. He closed his eyes and slowly concentrated on activating his close combat weapon and the same memory he did before. Just then, he heard clicking and shifting noises on both his arms. Looking down, he saw two sets of weapons for both offensive and defensive. The offensive is a long metallic Cybertronian like broadsword that replaces his right servo. The defensive is an energy dome shield that's resting on his left arm. He looked at both weapons and was impressed with what he was looking at. Arcee checked it out too and was impressed by his weaponry.

Arcee: "A sword and shield huh? Guess that makes you warrior class. Nice!"

Jack turns to her and could tell that she likes his weapons. He then looked at the old automobile and decided to try his new weapon out. Positioning his sword like a baseball bat, he swung it a couple of times and sliced the roof off like it was made of paper. He smiled and felt proud of what he did to the car as Bulkhead took a good look and could tell that he was successful.

Bulkhead: "Nice work Jack! With a little more practice the Cons would be sliced to bits."

He then turned to June to see if she had a secondary weapon.

Bulkhead: "June! You're next! Let's see what you got."

June looked at her hanging metal bag and concentrated on her second weapons. She then heard the sound of swishing noised as she looked at her servos to see what it was. What she saw was two scalpel knives that were similar to Ratchet, but smaller and fit to accommodate over her feminine servos. Looking at the car, she tried her weapons out and sliced the doors and roof. The end result was deep gashes on the car as the scalpel like blades sliced through like a hot knife through butter. She liked how that went as Ratchet came in and sees for himself.

Ratchet: "That's pretty impressive Ms. Darby. Maybe I should give you a little training in combat as well since you know how to handle your tools."

June turned to him and smirked at his response.

June: "If you want to teach me on using my tools Ratchet, then I should warn you that I'm a fast learner."

She then retracted her blades to bring her servos to normal, but as she did that another change occurred. Ratchet looked down and gasped to see what it was.

Ratchet: "June, look at your servos. They changed again!"

June tilted her head and was confused by that statement.

June: "What?"

She looked down to see her hands and noticed that they have change completely. They now look like huge rectangular pads with curved corners and were sparking some electricity. The others looked on quizzically as Bumblebee asked about it.

Bumblebee: _**(What are those?)**_

June, who now understands what the scout was saying, answered his question.

June: "Really don't know Bee. They look like the defibrillators I used back in the hospital, but they're bigger then the normal ones. I wonder if they do the same…"

She quickly places two pads together and rubbed them continuously, sending sparks and electricity in between. Once it was fully charged, she placed them on the car and it created a pulse wave of electricity through it, forcing it to push back. Looking down at the pads, she smiled and answered her own question.

June: "Wow, that actually worked!"

Ratchet took a good look at the pads and was surprised that it worked.

Ratchet: "Looks like MECH wanted to make you into a real medic. Those defibrillators could be one of the many features that we aren't aware of. Who knows if there are more medical tools in you. Might have to see what else you have when I start training you in Cybertronian medicine."

June just chuckled and responded to what he said while reverting her pads into her servos.

June: "Just try to keep up with me okay?"

Everyone just look at the nurse and finds that to be a bit weird for a conversation. Bulkhead tried to ignore that and went to Raf to see about his close combat weapons.

Bulkhead: "All right Raf, let's see you're close combat weapons."

Raf was again nervous about that and didn't know if he's ready for that or not. But he reassured himself that it's going to be okay. So he closed his eyes and concentrate on his close combat weapon. He then heard a compartment opened up and looked down to see a slanted opening at the top of his arm with a hole in the center opening. Raf looked at it and wondered what it can do.

Raf: "That's odd… Wonder what does this do?"

The second he said that a metal cable wire came out of the end and wrapped around the car, tightening it as it crushed it like a soda can. Raf was surprised, yet unprepared about what happened. The others looked at that too and find that to be unexpected.

Wheeljack: "Huh… Those look like the same cables Soundwave uses for combat. Strange…"

Bulk turned to his friend and told him it was all right.

Bulkhead: "As long as he doesn't turn into a Con, which he will never do, it's all right with me."

Raf retracted the living cord into his arm and reverted it to normal as the Wrecker headed to Miko's side. Looking at her, he could tell that she's psyched about trying her weapons out. Chuckling to himself, he responded by her enthusiasm.

Bulkhead: "Looks like my best friend is ready to kick some serious tailpipes. You're ready to try your combat weapon out Wrecking Cadet?"

Miko just looked at him and nodded, smiling from audio receptor to audio receptor.

Miko: "You know it Bulk!"

Bulk then tapped her in the shoulder and explained to her about the blasters lesson.

Bulkhead: "Remember to calm down Miko. You won't activate your weapons if you get too wound up. Just think of your combat weapon and a certain memory."

Miko nodded and clamed her nerves down before she could arm her weapon. Thinking of her combat weapon as the same memory as before, she could feel her hands shifting and her weapon coming out. Looking down, she noticed that something that shocked her the most. Her servo was replaced with a hammer that was similar to Breakdown's only smaller and has a much feminine shape. Bulk looked at it too and palmed his helm.

Bulkhead: "Oh no… Don't tell me that MECH got weapon's schematics from Breakdown. Guess that's going to be unavoidable from here on out. Let's see how well you can hit them."

Miko looked at her friend then back at the car hanging on the chain. Smirking to herself, she got into position and was ready.

Miko: "Oh yeah… I got this."

On instinct, she changed her other servo to a hammer and was ready in hitting the car. But as she was getting ready, she didn't notice both her hammers opened up a little bit and circuits were glowing on the inside. She then did a quick spin and hit the old mobile with a one two punch. But as she hit it, the car itself flew and unhinged itself from the impact. It flew high into the air until it hit the wall and landed on top of one of Ratchet's tools, crushing it on impact. Everyone just saw this and couldn't believe that had happened. But Ratchet was angry about that as steam was fuming out of his tail pipes.

Ratchet: "Miko! I NEEDED THAT!"

The young Japanese girl blinked her optics and didn't expect this coming. So she turned to Ratchet and apologized.

Miko: "Sorry… Guess I didn't know my own strength."

The others stared with wide optics and still couldn't believe that she did something like that. Arcee then stepped in and had to say it since everyone was thinking about it.

Arcee: "Great… Not only does Miko have super sonic blasters, but also a pair of gravity hammers. She's going to be a hands full during training."

* * *

After that unexpected experience and a quick drink of energon, the team went to the training room to continue with the recruit's next lesson. Jack, Raf, and Miko stood in a line and were a little nervous as the teammates stood opposite of them. Arcee walked back and forth, giving them a lecture in what they are going to do.

Arcee: "All right, so far you have mastered your blasters and close combat weapons. But that won't do you much if you don't know how to defend yourself. That's what this lesson will be about. Today we're going to teach you on how to protect your afts by continuous sparring. Of course before we do that, we need to teach you a couple of drills just to see if you can fight against Cons."

Miko listened to that and groaned to herself.

Miko: "Are you serious? We are going to fight some Decepticreeps and you want us to do drills? Maybe we should tell the Cons to teach us that when they're too busy killing us in the process!"

The two-wheeler just turned to the recruit and groaned to herself on the girl's attitude.

Arcee: "Miko, the purpose of defending one's self is by understanding the moves of the enemy. If you try to master that, then you might be able to walk away with your limbs intact."

But Miko didn't listen as she did the one thing ever rookie does when they don't keep their voice boxes off.

Miko: "Oh please… Why would I need to do that when I have my hammers that can smash through anything? Heck, I can even beat you with my optics closed."

Arcee tilted her head and couldn't help but to smirk devilishly.

Arcee: "Really now… All right then, prove it. Try and hit me with your hammers. As a matter of fact, I'll give you the first shot."

The team just looked at this little quarrel and couldn't help but to watch.

Bumblebee: _**(This is going to be good.)**_

Smokescreen: "Tell me about it. Bet ya the trainee is going to get taken down on the first swing."

As the two young bots made a bet, Miko positioned herself for a charge while Arcee stood very still and was a little relaxed on the whole thing.

Miko: "All right Arcee, prepare to get knocked the frag out!"

Arcee just smirk and chuckled at her threat.

Arcee: "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Miko formed both her servos into her hammers and charged right in for an assault. But Arcee just stood there and acted like it was nothing. The moment she got close to her, the Japanese girl scream and swung her hammers at the femme's head. In a blink of a second, Arcee ducked down low and got into a kneeling position, doing a sweep kick to knock the young recruit to the ground. Miko was unprepared for that as she tripped from the kick and landed on the back with a big thud, cringing from the impact as Arcee got up as placed her foot on top of the girl's chassis. With a sly smile, she told the recruit about what just happened.

Arcee: "That was me holding back, WAY back. If you're going to survive a Decepticon onslaught, then you need to learn on how to fight and how to defend. Understand?"

Miko just chuckled and felt a little embarrassed by what happened.

Miko: "Uh, sure… I'll remember that."

Arcee sighed as she removed her foot from the Japanese girl and offered a hand. Miko looked at the hand and grabbed it, helping herself up. As that settled down, Jack and Raf couldn't help but to chuckle about it.

Jack: "That's our Miko, always rushing in on the action."

Raf: "Tell me about it. Human or Bot, she always gets into trouble no mater what."

The two just laughed it up and Miko approached them and threaten them.

Miko: "Go ahead and laugh you two. Once I'm done with my training, I will be a force to be reckon with."

The two looked at her questionably as Jack responded by her threat.

Jack: "Oh we'll see about that Miko."

As the argument started, Arcee turned to the three and starts their training.

Arcee: "All right, let's begin with your training. Each of you will be paired up with one of us so you will understand the different fighting techniques and learn about defending yourself. Miko, you're going to be with Bulkhead and Wheeljack for the Wrecker's fighting style. Raf, you'll be paired with Bumblebee to learn about his type of fighting. Jack, you're going to be with me and Smokescreen. Gotta show you how to fight like a cyber ninja."

Jack nodded as he, Raf, and Miko went to their designated teachers and began their combat training. For the first half hour, each Autobot taught the cadets their own fighting style through a variety of drills. For Miko, both Bulk and Jackie taught her how the Wreckers fight, mostly rough housing and full offensive. For Raf, Bumblebee taught him the Cybertronian version of boxing for both kick and original. As for Jack, both Arcee and Smokescreen taught two separate types of fighting. Arcee's fighting style was cyber ninja techniques she learned while Smokescreen's was the military drills he learned in Elite Guard boot camp. Once the drills were all done, they spent the next hour in sparring and defending themselves from a fight. Of course the first time in sparring was rough for the former humans since they were just getting started. Their moves were a little sloppy and they have the tendency in getting hit in the vulnerable of spots. But the team slowly put them through the spars step by step once they screwed up and were getting a little better.

* * *

As their training went underway, another type of training was taking place. In the medical ward, Ratchet was teaching June about Cybertronian medicine and aid. Since he agreed to help Team Prime with training the newly born Cybertronians, he asked if he would train June about medical aid on Cybertron since she was once a nurse. He could tell that she doesn't want to take part in fighting a war and he needed an extra set of servos to assist the now growing team. She was sitting on a crate paying close attention to the lecture while Ratchet was teaching her about the Cybertronian's life or death situation.

Ratchet: "Now Cybertronian biology is sort of similar to human biology but there are huge differences in between them. For example, we function mechanically like machines function on your planet such as circuit boards, fuses, stabilizers and servos. But we are living organisms all the same. I know of the people on your planet who say your life force is supported by your organic heart and astral soul. Our cybertronians life forces are supported by our sparks, electric pulses that flow through our systems and give us the consciousness to live. And energon, the life fluid of all cybertronians that courses through our veins like blood in your bodies. Even if we suffer system failure it won't threaten our lives. Only under dire circumstances would our sparks be in danger of being extinguished, like if we suffer extreme damage to our outer systems, as well as our inner systems. Or worse, a complete shutdown."

June listened in on what Ratchet said and was intrigued by it all. When she was at the base, she always taught Ratchet on human medicine ever since Raf was nearly killed by Megatron and his Dark Energon blast. Now as a Cybertronian, it's Ratchet that's teaching her on Cybertronian medicine. After he gave her a quick lecture, June feels like asking a question.

June: "Wow Ratchet, I never really thought that we are alike. But there is something I need do know."

Ratchet: "And what do you want to ask June?"

June: "Well, you said before that there's a huge difference between humans and Cybertronians right? Is that true with life spans as well?"

Ratchet smiled and nodded.

Ratchet: "But of course. While the human life cycle lasts around a hundred years of age, our life span goes on for hundreds of millions of years, possibly billions more if it's possible. So to you we look and act our age in Earth terms, we have lived possibly much longer lives. In fact, as I was doing a diagnosis on you, your son, and the others, you're life span have extended fifty folds. You might actually live longer then anyone you knew."

The nurse's optics grew wide and couldn't believe it. Not only did MECH turned her, her son, and his friends into robots, but also extended their own life span. Just the thought of it made her feel like she now is in a living fountain of youth. But then she thought about her husband and what his reaction will be like. She was supposed to call him when things get to some form of normalcy and both she and Jack would settle in. But now that this happened, she doesn't know what to do. Ratchet notice it and asked about it.

Ratchet: "Is something the matter June?"

June looked up at the medic and tried to explain it.

June: "Nothing's the matter Ratchet. It's just that I'm worried about John. I'm pretty sure he's scared to death about me and my son and is wondering if we're okay. I just don't know what to say to him now after what just happened. Not to mention what his reaction would be like if he sees me like this!"

Ratchet heard those words and could understand how she's feeling. Since this whole mess has started, it was impossible for her to contact her husband and tell him that everything it okay and both she and Jack are alive. And now with this mess, it would be impossible to explain to him what has happened. He then shook his head and started to ease her worried processor.

Ratchet: "I know that things have been complicated to you and Jack since what MECH did to the two of you, but you are still alive and that's all that matters. Now I'm sure Agent Fowler will do anything he can to assure your husband that you both are fine, but I'm sure he will do anything he can to find the truth. You know how he is and where he works. It won't be easy telling him when he finds out the truth."

June nodded and could understand what he was saying. John is a former military soldier and likes to get a little nosey one some occasions. Not to mention that this organization he works for in Italy is just as secret as the Autobots. She just hopes he won't find out soon or things could get a whole lot complicated.

Ratchet: "Now let's continued with your medical training."

June nodded as she continued listening to Medic's lessons in Cybertronian medicine. For an hour and a half, she learned so much in robotic medical aid. Ratchet even showed her how to handle any given situation by using a metallic like dummy to teach her a couple of techniques. She was a little clumsy at first, but in a couple of days, she would get use to it all.

* * *

For the next day, they are already getting the hang of their new bodies. It's just like the first day they were on their training wheels and were getting the hang of their new weapons. Now the training wheels came off and they have gotten use to their blasters and combat weapons. Now they just need to see if they can spar a little better then yesterday. The trainees were gathered in a group taking a quick energon break as Miko was discussing about what she did this in her training.

Miko: "Dudes, you should've seen me. Bulkhead did a new training regiment for me by tossing barrels in the air while I used my sonic pulse blasters on them. You could've seen the power my blasters push those barrels away! They reached as high as the ceiling! It was incredible! Those Airadicons would think twice if they cross my path."

The others then looked at her and were a little uncomfortable with the girl.

June: "You know, I don't know what's scarier? Us turning into robots or Miko and her adrenaline habits?"

Jack just chuckled and assured to his mother that everything would be all right.

Jack: "Just give her a break huh mom? Miko's living her dream. Let her enjoy it all right?"

June looked at her son and sighed to herself.

June: "That isn't making me feel comfortable at the moment Jack. But I'll get use to it."

Jack smiled knowing her mother can get through with this. He then turned to the other side and notice the rest of the team was just having a break of their own, talking and drinking their energon. But as he was looking, he noticed someone was missing within the group. So he turned to Bulkhead and asked him about it.

Jack: "Hey Bulkhead, where's Wheeljack? I don't see him anywhere."

The Wrecker turned to him and answered his question.

Bulkhead: "Oh, Jackie is in the Jackhammer putting together his new invention. He said that he's creating some kind of communication scrambler for each of us so that Soundwave won't track our comms if we ever try to communicate with our base."

Jack nodded and went back to talking to the others, knowing that now they won't have to worry about communicating to Ratchet without Soundwave eavesdropping on them. As they were talking, Ratchet was close to the ground bridge controls, trying to get the whole thing up and running. He'd been spending days in getting the bridge to work whenever he's not busy with medical aid or helping June out with her medical training. But with most of the resources he needed are no longer at his disposal, he has to do it the old fashion way. He was tinkering with some wires to see if that would work.

Ratchet: "Now let's see… Maybe if I could cross this wire into that, I might be able to get the mechanics working again."

So he started to cross some wires to see if that works. The end result however was that it started to spark and nearly electrocuted him. He backed up as the smoke started to settle. Thankfully, the controls weren't destroyed from the short circuit, but fixing the bridge went back to square one. He waved his servos after getting the smoke out of his ventilation.

Ratchet: "By the Allspark, not this again!"

Raf overheard that and turned to see the team's medic getting the wires back to their original place before it explodes. Curious, he finishes drinking his energon and headed to the controls to see if he's okay.

Raf: "Uh… Ratchet? Is everything all right?"

Ratch turned to the former young boy and could tell that he was worried.

Ratchet: "Everything is fine. I'm just trying to get this ground bridge working. I need to make sure that this base is fully operational that way we can begin searching for energon deposits or Iacon relics. If the Decepticons hadn't taken over all the untapped mines yet."

Raf looked at what he's doing and thought that it wasn't right.

Raf: "But shouldn't you build the ground bridge the way you did it before. I mean, you were the one that built a ground bridge when you first came here right?"

Ratchet: "Naturally… But I would need the necessary software patches and installation upgrades to get this thing up and running. And unfortunately, all the patches and upgrades I need were in the old base. But no worries, I can still do this the old fashion way. Just need to figure out which of the circuit boards and wires are similar to that of the ones on Cybertron. Might take me a few solar cycles, but I might be able to get it working. Now let's see, which one of these act as the conduit for the bridge's energy stability?"

Raf looked at the medic's work and could tell that he has no clue on how to rework a ground bridge. He wishes he could help out and use his laptop to fix this mess. Unfortunately, he no longer has a laptop with him and to top it all off he's a Cybertronian youngling. Placing his hand on the ground bridge console, he doesn't know what to do. Just as he was thinking about that, the compartment on top of his arm opened up and the cable came out of it. With the end connecting to the controls, multiple little wires came out of it and implanted deep into the keys themselves. Raf was surprised when he saw information streaming down on his visor like glasses. He quickly removed the cable as the data stream stopped. Looking at the cable moving on its own, he noticed little wires wriggling that were trying to connect to something. It was then that Raf realized that his new close combat weapons can not only be used for fighting, but also bypassing and hacking into any system imaginable whether it's human or alien. Looking up, he noticed that Ratchet was still busy with the wiring and circuitry while the others were talking. Turning back to the ground bridge controls, he decided to give his new ability a try. Opening his other compartment on his arm, another cable came out of it and the two connected to the terminal. Once the little wires were able to penetrate into the system, they started to gain access to the bridge's mainframe while data appeared on the young mech's visor. Immediately, he was entering codes like crazy, installing the specific software necessary to operate a ground bridge and performing updates for the system. As he was doing that, Ratchet looked baffled by this as he rubbed the back of his helm.

Ratchet: "Well, I'm out of ideas. I swear, these humans and their ancient technology. They are not as advanced as they say it be."

He turned to see if he could find another way in activating the ground bridge. But as he headed to the controls, he noticed Raf at the controls doing something to it. Shocked and surprised, he marched towards him and was extremely angry.

Ratchet: "What in the name of Primus are you doing!? Get out of there!"

Ratchet then shoved Raf out of the way as he staggered back and kept his footing while the cables retracted back to his arms and the compartments closed. The others overheard the medic's anger and turned to see him, yelling at Raf of all people.

Ratchet: "What are you trying to do? The ground bridge controls are part of sophisticated equipment. It's not a TOY!"

The group was a little confused and scared for their young friend. They all rushed in and tried to stop their medic before he could hurt their young hacker.

Arcee: "What in the name of Solaris Prime going on here?!"

Ratchet turned to her and told her what he saw.

Ratchet: "What's going on? I'll tell you what's going on! One of your recruits here headed to the ground bridge control and tried to-"

He turned to the screen connected to the ground bridge and checked to see the hacker damaged anything. But as he was looking into the screen, he noticed something that he didn't expect.

Ratchet: "Wait a nano click… That's impossible!"

Jack noticed his reaction and got closer to ask him.

Jack: "What is it Ratchet."

The medic looked through the information again and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Ratchet: "This doesn't make any sense. Somehow Rafael managed to repair the ground bridge by himself. All the software patches and installation updates have been added and the system is up to 100% efficiency, probably more."

Everyone was surprised by this and didn't expect a young mech who was once a twelve and a quarter year old boy could actually complete the ground bridge on his own.

Smokescreen: "Hold up. You mean to tell us that we can now use the ground bridge?"

Ratchet was a little hesitant at first since he never used the bridge yet. Looking down at the lever, he decided to give it a little test run.

Ratchet: "Only one way to find out. Keep your digits cross."

He typed a random location across the planet and pulled the lever. After a few seconds, they all heard the familiar sound they haven't heard of in a long time. They all turned to the tunnel where the ground bridge is and saw the light circles appearing one by one followed by a cylinder of green and blue energy like water and a bright light at the end. Everyone looked on and was in complete disbelief that they now have finally gotten their ground bridge. They were all speechless as Miko broke the silence.

Miko: "Whoa… Now that's awesome."

Ratchet turned to Raf and wanted to know how he was able to fix the bridge.

Ratchet: "Rafael, how were you able to fix the ground bridge, being how advance it is?"

Raf just shrugged his shoulders and explained as much as he could.

Raf: "Well… I think it has something to do with those cables. I think I can hack into any system no matter how complex it is. Something I can't really do with my laptop. I might be able to hack into the Decepticon's database if necessary. At least that's what I think."

The other's listened in and could understand what he was saying.

Bulkhead: "So, what does that mean? That MECH created another Soundwave?"

Miko's answer was a quick smack to the back of her friend and responded.

Miko: "Slag yeah Bulk! Only this time, this Soundwave is on our side!"

Bumblebee just approached his friend and gave his a quick bear hug.

Bumblebee: _**(Oh Raf, I'm proud of you!)**_

Raf was a little out of breath as Bee was tightening his body.

Raf: "Okay Bee, I get it. Thanks. Now please let me go! I still have a small body you know!"

Quickly the scout let go as the team was pleased at what their youngest friend did for them. Meanwhile, Arcee and Jack were together looking at this moment and were impressed by what happened.

Jack: "So, Raf now has the ability to hack into advance computers. That was a little unexpected."

The two-wheeler placed her servos on her hips and responded from her partner's thoughts.

Arcee: "Maybe so, but it could give us a strong advantage against the Cons. Who knows, between the four of you, there's more to each of you then meets the eye."

Jack turns to her and wonders what that meant. But before he could ask, a beep was made on one of the screen and a very familiar voice.

Agent Fowler: _"Ratchet? Are you there?"_

The medic looked up to see Agent William Fowler on one of the vid screens. Turning off the ground bridge, he approached the screen and responded.

Ratchet: "I'm here Agent Fowler. Sorry for the wait, things have been a little hectic as of late. What do you want?"

The agent just smiled and told him why he's calling.

Agent Fowler: _"Nothing much, just checking to see if all of you are following Bryce's orders since the incident with MECH a few days ago. How are the kids and June?"_

Ratchet turned back to see them looking at the conversation then turned back around and told him about it.

Ratchet: "They're adapting well to their situation. Since we started to train them, they've been doing well on their weapons and combat. But, it's going to be a while until they are ready to go to battle."

Fowler nodded, understanding what the medic was trying to say.

Agent Fowler: _"That's good to hear. Last thing I want is some dead rookies that used to be human. By the way, I've been talking to some people at the Pentagon about this new person in MECH and had done their research. They managed to contact me back and said that they got the identity of this Director."_

That got the former humans attention as they gathered around Ratchet while Jack asked him about that.

Jack: "Really? You got Intel on the Director?"

Fowler looked at them and answered the boy's question.

Agent Fowler: _"You could say that. Here, take a look."_

Almost immediately, multiple windows opened up on the screen next to Fowler's and showed photos and information. The ID picture showed a man in his forties that has black hair with gray sideburns, a salt and pepper goatee like beard around his mouth, glasses to help him see, and light green eyes. As the images appeared, Fowler asked them a question.

Agent Fowler: _"Is this the person that you saw when you were captured."_

The four looked at the ID picture and nodded in unison.

Jack: "That's him all right. Hard to see being that his face was covered in the shadows, but we know that look anywhere."

Fowler heard the icy sound in Jack's voice and could tell that they were right on the money.

Agent Fowler: _"I figured as much. His real name is Leonard Church. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March the 5th, 1965. He was raised by a rich family in the city and has a family business known as Church Enterprise that specializes in the weapons department. A genius himself, he went to Harvard in his late teens and graduated when he was twenty-two. He gain degree in Doctor of Science, or S.D. in abbreviated terms, and was at the tops of his class in Biomedical and Biological Science, Chemistry and Chemical Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Computational Science. He started to work at his family's business at twenty-five and had risen to the top of the ladder when he was thirty. For that short of time, he became a big time business mogul."_

The other's then joined in and looked at the information on the screen Fowler presented. Arcee then asked the agent about this company the Director use to operate.

Arcee: "This business the Director use to operate, what types of weapons they've built?"

Agent Fowler: _"Why the types of weapons the United States government wanted. Church Enterprise had strong ties with the Pentagon with their military and defense contracts and built weapons that involve mechanical and chemical tendencies. …for peaceful applications of course. Please understand that the last thing that the company wanted was to start a war._"

Smokescreen: "So what happened? How did this Church guy went from being the head of his own family's business to the enemy of the state?"

Fowler was a little silent about this until he spoke up.

Agent Fowler: _"The details are a little sketchy, however we do know something's that brought the company in a downward spiral. Between 2002 and 2005, there have been multiple insurgent attacks within the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan towns with casualty counts up to thousands. From what Intel gathered, the insurgents used the most advance weaponry to create bombs that would take out an entire city block. Soldiers managed to raid one of the rebel outposts and confiscated the tech necessary for all that destruction. Turns out that those weapons and bombs belonged to, and get ready for this one, Church Enterprise."_

The team was speechless by the news until Jack spoke up with a bit of distaste in his voice.

Jack: "You mean the Director killed those he was helping? Why did he do that?!"

Agent Fowler: _"Like I said before, it's still up in the air as to why he did that. All we know so far is that he betrayed his country and needed to be put down. The C.I.A. was going to apprehend him and bring to the Washington Court House with enough evidence to claim he was guilty. But before they can actually arrest him, he disappeared without a trace. Almost like a ghost vanishing from the world."_

Bulkhead: "And what about his company. What happened to it?"

Agent Fowler: _"As far as I can tell, the company, let alone the board of directors had no clue that their former chairman was the one who smuggles his weapons into the hands of terrorists. There were arrests from employers that helped Church in smuggling weapons but they couldn't find the person in charge of all those illegal tradeoffs. As for the company itself, it slowly struggled from the aftermath of the Director's action. Half the government's contracts were severed, there were layoffs with most of their employees, and their stocks plummeted to an all time low. They were almost on the verge of bankruptcy. Thankfully, they managed to recover from that ordeal. Church's daughter, Carolina, took over the business and turned it into a pharmaceutical company, bringing the doomed company back from the dead."_

June heard that last part, and remembered about that company.

June: "Church Enterprise… I remember that company! Jasper Medical had some of the company's medicine to help cure kidney, heart, and lung cancers. They were really helpful to our patients."

Agent Fowler: _"Indeed they were. Though the company managed to bounce back, the authorities still couldn't find Leonard. No one hasn't even heard from him…"_

And as he started that sentence, Arcee was the one that finished it.

Arcee: "…until now."

Agent Fowler: _"It's obvious that whoever's in charge of MECH brought Church in and made him the head director of MECH's Science Division due to his experience."_

After telling the Autobots about the Director, Ratchet turned his head away and thought about MECH and what happened a few days ago. He turned to the agent and asked him about it.

Ratchet: "Agent Fowler, you're not suggesting that MECH is just as dangerous as the Decepticons are you?"

Fowler tilted his head and responded to the medic's question.

Agent Fowler: _"Something like that. Just think about it, no one ever heard about the Al Quida or Osama bin Laden until they decided to steal a couple of planes and use them as huge missiles to ram into the Twin Towers and part of the Pentagon. So no one has heard of MECH until Silas came into the picture and tried to steal and D.I.N.G.U.S. It's obvious that MECH is more then just a small group, it's a huge terrorist organization placed on America's own soil. Long story short, we're dealing with a much dangerous group then we thought imaginable."_

Everyone was quiet about the whole thing and was a little worried about this outcome.

Bulkhead: "So let us get this straight. You saying that not only do we have to take on an army of Decepticons, but also an army of humans? Oh man, this complicates things for us."

Bee just whistled to himself through his beeps and responded by his friend's thoughts.

Bumblebee: _**(Tell me about it. Battling two enemies would have our servos full.)**_

Agent Fowler: _"Whatever the case, MECH is of human concern, not Autobots. The general has already having units dispatched to search for the Director and his new base of operations. You all should remain in your base until the Decepticons stop searching for you. I was able to explain to the Bryce about what you did back at the penitentiary and he was able to let that slide. Just don't pull at stunt like that again okay?"_

Arcee just looked at him and nodded in response.

Arcee: "We'll try our best Fowler. But we won't guarantee any promises."

He looked at the two-wheeler and didn't like the sound of it, but decided to leave that out of the way.

Agent Fowler: _"For you sake Arcee, you better keep to your promise."_

He was about to turn off the vid comm. but notice the Autobots former human friends talking about what he told them. So he decided to ease them through what they've experienced.

Agent Fowler: _"Jack, Raf, Miko, and June?"_

The four turned to the agent as what he said got their attention.

Agent Fowler: _"Listen, I know what you've been going through is complicated. But let me tell you it's something you all need to adjust. At least your friends are there to help you out with the situation you're in. But if you need anything, just let me know. I'll help you out anyway I can."_

The four looked at each other and had smiles on their face, like they know what each of them were thinking. They then turned to Fowler as Jack was the first to speak.

Jack: "Actually Agent Fowler, we all would like to make a request."

The agent just raises an eyebrow and wonder what the request is.

Agent Fowler: _"Okay… What do you want to talk about?"_

The looked at each other as Jack turned to him and said it.

Jack: "We were hoping that you could find vehicles of our choosing."

Agent Fowler: _"And for what reason?"_

Jack: "Why for our alt modes of course."

* * *

Around that time, there was a military base located in South Dakota that's on high alert from the Decepticon attack in Jasper. Two guards were at the entrance of the base with a fence like gate sealing the area up. As they were at their posts, one of the soldiers's noticed something the distance and was getting closer. He pointed to it and told the other soldier about it.

Soldier 6: "Hey, what's that?"

The other soldier noticed the unknown object heading towards them and saw what appears to be a group of green sports cars going really fast.

Soldier 7: "Looks like a bunch of sports cars. They appear to be going fast."

He got to the middle of the road and lifted his hand up, telling them to stop.

Soldier 7: "Halt!"

But the cars didn't respond as they continue to speed to the entrance. The soldier tried again.

Soldier 7: "Halt!"

Still, they wouldn't respond as they were getting closer and closer to the entrance. The soldier panicked and jumped out of the way as the cars speed past them and smashed through the gate. The two soldiers looked at the hole of the fence gate and didn't know what to do.

Soldier 7: "Sound the alarm! We have intruders!"

In the base, the sports cars split up and wreaked havoc all over the place. They had blasters opening up as the sides of their hoods and they started firing, hitting landed helicopters and jeeps. Almost immediately, soldiers drove down the base and rounded up and enemy cars. Once they got them surrounded, the soldiers aimed their rifles at the vehicles as one of the soldiers gave out the orders.

Soldier 8: "You have entered a restricted area. Step out of the cars or we'll be force to fire."

The sports cars remained where they were as no one didn't get out of it. Silently, two soldiers approached one of the cars as one had his hand on the door handle of the driver seat. One of the soldiers's nodded as the other opened the door and pointed their rifles as the driver. But strangely enough, there was no driver, just an empty driver seat. The two looked at each other and was confused by what they saw.

Soldier 9: "Uh… Where's the driver?"

Just as he asked that question, the door closed by itself as the two backed away. That's when something strange happened. Everyone watched as the group of green sports cars broke apart and expanded, almost like they were transforming. The military slowly backed away when on the floor were shadows of huge robots as one of the soldiers responded in complete disbelief.

Soldier 8: "Oh shit…"

* * *

**And that ends chapter nine. Now for those of you who are a little confused, let me give you a brief weapons description of each of the recruits.**

**Jack – Energy blasters, sword, energy shield.**  
**June – Energy blasters, scalpel daggers, spark defibilators, Swiss army knife like tools on her fingers _(For future chapters)_.**  
**Raf – Tazer blasters, movable cables for combat and hacking.**  
**Miko – Super sonic pulse blasters, gravity hammers, shoulder mounted rocket launchers _(For future chapters)_.**

**Sorry though if I had to make the sparring part brief, too much information could make these chapters longer then expected. But don't worry about it. In future chapters, you will get a chance to see them fight with the training they've learned. Oh and for those of you who are wondering who John is and why June was talking about him, I suggest heading to my other story for your answers. I got two chapters already down, but I'll update it as soon as I could. The next chapter, the former humans get their new vehicle modes while the base they were in is under attack. I bet you can't guess on who's attacking it. Please Review and don't forget to give me code names for June, Raf, and Miko.**


	10. Attack

**Well this is impressive. That little request I made has gave me a good response for any interesting codenames for the former humans. A lot of good ones too. So good in fact, that I decided on another favor. See, I'm pretty sure that there are readers on this site who are also members of DeviantArt. So here's my proposition for anyone reading this story. See, I'm looking for artists that can draw autobot versions of Jack, Raf, Miko, and June in my story. See this chapter is going to be about them getting their alternate vehicle modes and their codenames. Meaning that I'm done in completing my own Cybertronian characters. If you don't know where to begin, let me give you the chapters where you can get the description.**

**Chapter 7 – Cybertronian appearance**  
**Chapter 9 – Weapons schismatic**  
**Chapter 10 – Codenames and vehicle modes**

**There will be five separate drawings. The first four will be of each of the former humans in their battle positions on one side and their vehicle modes on the other (Don't care which side it is). The final picture would be a group picture of Jack, Raf, Miko, and June in their battle poses, something I will use for my avatar picture on the story. Now the pictures can either be in pencil drawing, ink lines, and full colors. Whatever the case I would like to add them to my favorites in my DeviantArt account and let people see what they would look like instead of reading what they look like. So if anyone is a member at DeviantArt and is a good drawer, let me know on the reviews or private messages to see if you are interested and put up a link for each of these pictures when you are done. Now for the responses on the last chapter. I got to say; this is the best one yet. A total of 34 reviews and a hit counter of 1,317. I think it has to do with the last request I made and that everyone got some good code names for me to use. I just hope this next chapter will give me more reviews and responses for my next request. Let's get back to the story shall we. The recruits get their new vehicle modes and are ready to ride, but not until one of the military bases they're in is under attack. Who is causing this attack? I'm sure you'll be in for quite the surprise.**

**Chapter Notes**

**As I stated before, I did a contest on what the former humans code names are going to be. A couple of reviewers gave me some good names, though one gave me some that are already names of the Autobots. But whatever, cause I noticed some really good original names that matches the other's personalities, hobbies, and weapons they use. Don't worry about Jack though; I have come up with a name that will fit him in this episode and the next one. Another thing that's gonna be in this chapter is the choice of vehicle modes for each of the former humans. Now I've been getting constant reviews of the many vehicles that people want me to use. Now I did some research of these cars and there are some good ones. But I got the good choice of vehicles for Jack, Raf, Miko, and June for quite some time and did a lot of research on each of them. Believe me, when you see them, you will understand why I decided to those cars.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Ten: Attack

_To the Secretary of Defense,_

_These are trying times for the United States of America. First the Decepticons placed a fortress outside of Jasper, Nevada. Then the Decepticons attacked that very town to deliver a message throughout the planet. And now we have this dilemma in our own hands. I'm pretty sure you know of this, but for almost a week we've been getting reports that five of our military bases within the North and South Dakota areas were under attack. There were no survivors within the aftermath. Now I know that you've been covering this up as some random attacks, but we both know what happened in those bases._

_Multiple reports claim that these bases were under attack by huge robots that transform into vehicles. It's clearly obvious that these attacks were caused by none other then the Decepticons. We all know what they did to that small town in Nevada. So it's obvious that they are trying to slowly chip away at our defenses._

_Under another note, Special Agent William Fowler contacted me that the Autobots requested that they need new vehicles. Something about them getting new recruits for their team. I don't know how they managed to find these recruits, but they need to know that they now have to follow some rules regarding the attack in Jasper. I've managed to let what happened at that MECH's facility slide, but they need to understand that this is guerrilla warfare now. These attacks prove that we cannot rely on them for their protection; even with these new recruits they're training._

_Now I can understand that keeping this war between two alien forces is the only way in leaving the citizens of this country in the dark. But these attacks are slowly loosing the people's trust on us. We can't keep this quiet forever. The world needs to know that these robots and this war exist! You have to alert the president about this and see if we can get a press conference going. It's time that the truth comes out!_

_Sincerely yours,  
General Bryce_

* * *

Almost another week has passed since the attack in Jasper and a week sine Jack, Raf, Miko, and June getting turned into Cybertronians thanks to MECH and the Director. But a lot of things have changed since those past two weeks. Since moving to their new base of operations almost a week ago, there had been some changes within the team. One big example was the fact that their human friends aren't human anymore. They were captured by MECH and the Director experimented on them by converging them into energon and bringing them back to life as Cybertronians. Team Prime headed to a correctional facility that MECH was using for their experiments and infiltrated the facility by creating a big enough distraction. With the help of Professor Sumdac, they managed to find their friends, but not the way they were expecting. Seeing them as robots shocked them the most and couldn't believe the Director can do that to them. They've managed to escape the facility with their friends and survived through that ordeal. The problem is how are they going to take care of them now? Since their friends are no longer human and there's no way in reversing it, there's only one thing to do. Train them to fight.

And train them they did. Team Prime helped their friends on how to fight, how to defend, and how to become Autobots. Started out with some targeting and close combat practice for their weapons. Started slow going of course, but at least they got the hang of their new weapons. Then there was sparing with the kids. At the start, their sparring ability was sloppy and didn't have much of a kick. But as each day passes, they've been improving from time to time. Still though, they have a long ways to go if they are ever going to be able to fight against Cons. For June though, Ratchet taught her about Cybertronian medicine and how to take care of wounded Autobots. Since she's more of a medic, she learned a lot about medical aid from the team's field medic from any part of the body that would be fatal in battle to the many Cybertronian diseases that are on the planet. She was very intrigued by the lecture and everyday is something new for her. Ratchet even gave her some hand on hand practice on some metal dummies to teach her what to do when a soldier is injured. At first, it wasn't an easy feat. But she was able to get through it just like she did in medical school. Ratchet was impressed by how much of a fast learner she was and was glad that she made a great student then a solider.

As far as the new recruits and training goes, other things change for the team. For one, Wheeljack created a couple of inventions that would help them get through with missions without getting detected by Decepticons. The first invention was the Energon Dampener, ED for short, which helps mask their energon signature so that no Cons would trace it, not even Soundwave. Another invention he created were the communication scramblers that can let the Autobots communicate with the base and each other without the Decepticon's eyes and ears listening in. He managed to finish it a few days ago and installed in each of the Autobots helms including himself. He didn't add any EDs or Scrambles into the recruits though. They were still in training and are not ready to go on any missions just yet. Once they are done training, then he would install those device into their systems. Besides Wheeljack's inventions, they now officially have a ground bridge. Since they lost the first ground bridge along with their old base, Ratchet was working non-stop to get the new ground bridge working again. After many tries, he still couldn't get it operational. But then Raf came in and used a new type of ability, where he can hack into any system, that helped him add the software patches and installation updates needed to get the bridge online. Everyone was happy that they now have a bridge to help them transport to different locations for energon deposits or Iacon relics. But since the Cons are still searching for them, they have to leave the ground bridge on hold until it's necessary.

* * *

Now all this has lead to today. The team was in the command center taking a break from all the practice and sparring. Both Team Prime and the recruits were relaxing from their lessons and drinking their energon while Ratchet was making some adjustments to the command console and making sure the scrambler Wheeljack gave him is working properly with the system. As they were talking and drinking, Miko wanted to show something she just learned by herself.

Miko: "Oh guys, you should see what I can do. Raf, Bee, get together and look at me for a quick pose."

Both the scout and the young hacker looked at each other and wondered what she was going to do. But they let it slide and pose in front of her. Smiling to herself, she concentrated on the two and a light flash came out of her optics. The two blinked and rubbed their eyes while Jack looked on with a little confusion in his face.

Miko: "Oh yeah, that's perfect!"

Jack then turned to her and asked what happened.

Jack: "Miko? What did you do?"

She turned to him and answered his question.

Miko: "Why I took a picture of them of course. Turns out my optics also act a digital camera. I take a picture and automatically save into my memory banks. It's so wicked!"

Arcee got a sly look on her face and starred at her interestingly.

Arcee: "Let me guess, you want to take pictures of anywhere and anyone you see fit huh?

She turned to the two-wheeler and nodded in sheer excitement.

Miko: "You know it Arcee! Oh, and that's not the only thing I can do. Check this out!"

She placed a single digit to her audio receptor and clicked on something. Almost instantly, the music of Slash Monkey echoed throughout the walls as most of the team covered their audio receptors and the team couldn't take that noise anymore.

Miko: "Awesome huh? I now have my very own satellite radio transmission in my own ears. I can listen to all my favorite metal channels all the time. I'm like a walking I-Pod here."

Still, the team was having a hard time hearing her since the music was too loud for them to listen. Ratchet was the worse of them since he couldn't stand that ruckus.

Ratchet: "Of all the things that are kind and unjust, would you please SHUT THAT INFERNAL RACKET!"

Miko was able to hear that and turned off her radio, sighing in defeat.

Miko: "Boy aren't you guys all party poopers."

The medic turned to her and didn't like what she learned.

Ratchet: "It's bad enough to have you playing that guitar in our old base. But it's worse that you are going to be walking around the new base with that noise blaring in her headset. I don't know if my audio receptors can take that much punishment."

Smokescreen turned to him and finds that to be a bit amusing.

Smokescreen: "Really Ratchet? I didn't think you even have an ounce of hearing to begin with."

He turned to the Elite Guard member and spat back.

Ratchet: "Watch it rookie or I will have to beat you up and put you on the medical berth to teach June here some serious surgery."

Smoke starred blankly and shut his mouth so that he won't get into that much trouble. Bulkhead just laughed it up and thought about Miko's new abilities.

Bulkhead: "That's good for you Miko! I never really thought that you can have your own tunes in your system."

Jack then decided to making a joke about Miko's new ability.

Jack: "Yeah… If you ever get in trouble, we'll follow the sounds of loud guitars and screeching lungs."

The team just laughed at the joke Jack made as Miko turned to him and was a little pissed off.

Miko: "Hey! That's now funny!"

As soon the laughter died down, everyone was just relaxing and getting ready for more training. But as they were talking, Miko then thought of something else and told everyone about it.

Miko: "You know what, I think we should have code names of our own. I mean we're Autobots now right? We don't really need to use our human names anymore."

Jack looked at her and had that _'Are you kidding me'_ face on him. He then shook his head and thought that it was a bad idea.

Jack: "Miko, I don't think it's wise to give ourselves code names for-"

But the Japanese girl shushed him and told him not to call her that.

Miko: "Uh uh… Don't call me Miko anymore. From here on out, my name will be… Kaosu."

The others looked at her with questionable expressions.

Arcee: "Kaosu?"

She turned back to the blue femme and responded.

Miko/Kaosu: "It's Japanese for chaos. Cause I bring the chaos!"

Both Bulkhead and Wheeljack turned to each other and nodded then looked at their Wrecking Recruit.

Wheeljack: "I really like that name. It suits you."

Bulkhead: "Certainly matches your personality that's for sure."

Miko, or Kaosu as she would be liked to call now, smiled at her teachers and was feeling a little giddy.

Miko/Kaosu: "Thanks guys, you're the best."

Jack sighed and told her that this codename thing really is a bad idea.

Jack: "Miko, You can't just give yourself a new name and think that this is normal."

Kaosu turned to him and explained why this is necessary.

Miko/Kaosu: "C'mon Jack, if we're on missions with these guys we have to have some kind of codename to protect our real identity. We can't be going around with our real names or the enemy will get suspicious."

Arcee overheard that and could understand what the girl was talking about. She turned to Jack and had an agreement with her.

Arcee: "Miko does have a point Jack. After what MECH did to you, it's wise that you start giving yourself some type of code name to protect your identity. Can you imagine what would happen if the Decepticons find our who you really are?"

Jack thought of what his partner said and has a really good point. After what he and his friends went through on Cybertron, they have become a potential target for Cons. If any of them, including Megatron, finds out about what happened to them they could do far worse things then MECH. So he sighed in defeat and decided to follow the femme's advice.

Jack: "All right fine. Whatever you say partner."

His words got Kaosu over excited as she fist pumped in the air.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yes! Finally some recognition! So Raf, what's your codename going to be?"

She then turned to Raf for a good answer. The young hacker looked between Miko and Bumblebee and couldn't figure out which.

Raf: "Don't know. How about… Firewall."

Bee was a little confused by that nickname and asked his friend about that.

Bumblebee: _**(Firewall? Why call yourself that?)**_

Miko/Kaosu: "Duh Bumblebee. It's because he's a hacker. And the one enemy an enemy hacker has is a firewall. Very nice!"

Raf, now called Firewall, responded with a simple nod for a thank you. He then turned to June and asked her about what her new name is.

Raf/Firewall: "What about you Ms. Darby. Do you have a codename of your own?"

June turned to Firewall and answered him simply.

June: "Well I don't see why I should get a codename, since I'm going to be spending time with Ratchet in the medical ward. But if that's the case then you might as well call me… Altra."

Ratchet turned to the nurse and was confused by that name.

Ratchet: "Altra huh? Never heard a name like that before."

She turned to the medic and did a little explanation.

June/Altra: "That's because it's Irish for nurse. It suits me well."

Arcee blinked her optics and wondered about that word.

Arcee: "Wait a click, you're Irish?"

Altra turned to her and answered.

June/Altra: "Only 1/16 of my bloodline at least. Got to follow your heritage right?"

The two-wheeler nodded with a warm smile and decided to let her keep it. She then turned to Jack and asked him the same thing.

Arcee: "Well, it's just you partner. What are you going to call yourself?"

Jack was caught off guard for the moment due to the fact that his mother called herself an Irish word and didn't realize he was going to name himself till now. He turned to her and was a little unsure.

Jack: "Me? A codename? I don't think I can come up any good ones."

That's when the others joined in to give him support.

Smokescreen: "C'mon Jack, you can think of something. Just try to picture the one word in your head."

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah Jack, don't leave us hanging. Think up something real good. Something that can strike fear into the sparks of the Cons."

Jack sighed and started to think of something that could be a good Autobot name for himself. After much thinking, he came up with a really good one.

Jack: "How about… Rodimus."

There was an eerie silence within the group of Miko just stood there a little disappointed.

Miko/Kaosu: "Rodimus? That's it? That's all you can think of? I mean what Deceptcreep would hide in cower of the name Rodimus? That's just lame!"

Jack, now known as Rodimus, turned to the Japanese girl and argued back.

Jack/Rodimus: "Hey, you were the one that wanted to have some Autobot names! You were the one that got me on the spot! Besides, it's the only thing I would come up with! What do you expect me to do?"

Arcee looked at this little quarrel and decided to ease it off before it could get any worse.

Arcee: "Don't listen to her Jack. She's just the type of girl that wants things her own way. After all, I kinda like that name Rodimus. Really does suits you."

Jack turned to her and had a small smile on his face.

Jack/Rodimus: "Thanks Arcee, at least you understand."

The two-wheeler tilted her head and smiled back at him, letting him know that everything will be all right. As that was going on, both Bumblebee and Smokescreen watched the conversation and was curious about the interaction between Rodimus and Arcee. Ever since the incident at the Jackhammer, the two have been really close as of late and preferred each other's company more so then normal. Almost like they were behaving more then just partners. So as curious as they are, the two decided to intervene by asking the femme to come and talk.

Smokescreen: "Um, Arcee? Can we have a word with you, in private?

The two-wheeler turned to the two and nodded in approval.

Arcee: "Sure thing Smokescreen."

So Arcee left Jack's side as the three walked to someplace where the others won't hear it. Bulkhead and Wheeljack noticed it too and wondered what they're up to. So they followed suit. As they all leave, Jack looked on and was wondering what that was all about.

Jack/Rodimus: "Huh… What was that about?"

He then drank his Energon cube and turned to the others for an answer. But oddly enough, the three were looking at him with questionable expressions of their own. Jack looked at each of them and could tell that something was off.

Jack/Rodimus: "What are you all looking at me for?"

Jack's mom turned her head away to give it much thought and turned back to him for a little discussion.

June/Altra: "Jack, we need to have a little talk."

* * *

As the conversations started, Bumblebee and Smokescreen were talking to Arcee.

Arcee: "Okay guys, what do you want to talk about?"

Both the scout and the Elite Guard member looked at each other and then back to the femme about what happened.

Smokescreen: "Well Arcee, it's about you and Jack."

Arcee: "And what's so important about that."

Smokescreen: "You see, it would seem that you and Jack have been getting a lot closer then normal."

Arcee: "Meaning?"

Smokescreen: "Well let's go over the list. You've been by Jack's side in recovery ever since we got back to the base. You've been holding his servo when you try to teach him to walk properly. You've been giving him compliments when he was trying out his new weaponry. Even when we were sparring him, you've been teaching him more then me."

Arcee tilted her head in confusion and finds that to be a little off.

Arcee: "And what does that have to do with me and Jack? I don't see anything wrong with that."

Smokescreen: "Maybe… But it would seem that you've been getting a little imtimate with your partner for some time."

That's when Bumblebee chimed in and reminded her about what happened at the Jackhammer.

Bumblebee: _**(Yeah. Especially since you two kissed on the Jackhammer.)**_

Those words really got Arcee on edge and snapped at the scout calmly.

Arcee: "Hey, what happened at the Jackhammer was an accident."

Wheeljack: "What accident are you talking about?"

The three turned to see both Wreckers approaching them, wanting to know what's going on. Arcee just looked at Jackie and told him to stay out of it.

Arcee: "That's none of your concern Wheeljack. Stay out of it!"

But bee decided to fill the two in on that incident.

Bumblebee: _**(Arcee and Jack kissed on the Jackhammer.)**_

The two Wreckers looked at the scout and were shocked for words then turned to Arcee for an explanation.

Bulkhead: "Whoa, whoa… Back up. You actually kissed Jack?"

That got the two-wheeler fuming as she tried to explain herself.

Arcee: "No! That's not what you think! Wheeljack over here used his ship to bring it up to high. I fell on my back while Jack landed on top of me. He was still in stasis when that happened! I wasn't expecting- He didn't have a single clue what just- It was never really my intention to- Why are we even talking about that? It was all nothing!"

But the mechs looked at each other and had smirks on their faces, figuring that she's hiding something. So Smokescreen turned to her and gave a coy gesture.

Smokescreen: "Come on Arcee, don't tell us that you have feelings for Jack? I mean seriously girl, you're in love with him are you?"

That question got Arcee's optics wide in shock and her protoform skin went deep red on the cheeks. She quickly shook that off of her and responded in the simplest way possible.

Arcee: "WHAT!? NO! I mean I care for my partner and all but we're not sparkmates!"

But the others could tell that she was lying and try to coax her out of that.

Wheeljack: "I don't know about that Arcee, because that look on your face says something different."

Bee then decided to make a song out of that.

Bumblebee: _**(Jack and Arcee sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N-)**_

Before he could finish, the femme turned to him and threatened him.

Arcee: "Finish that line Bumblebee and I'll mute you permanently…"

The scout slowly backed away and was a little nervous. And who could blame him? Getting a voice box removed from Megatron is one thing, having Arcee doing something worse is another. Bulkhead decided to prevent that from happening by telling her the truth.

Bulkhead: "Admit it Arcee, you are falling in love with your own partner."

The two-wheeler's reaction was to turn her head away and remained silent for a moment.

Arcee: "Look, I only care for him as a partner, just like Tailgate and Cliffjumper. I don't even think this can work out. I'm an Autobot and he's human."

Smokescreen: "Was human… Now he's Cybertronian like us. The perfect opportunity to admit your feelings to him."

She peered back to the Elite Guard member and understood that he was right. Jack was human, but now he has a new life in Rodimus and a Cybertronian body that every femme would fall for. Though that was a good fact, she still too unsure of herself.

Arcee: "Even if what you say is true, I still don't know if he cares for me. I'm sure that he still has a crush with that girl Sierra, if she made it out of Jasper that is."

Smokescreen: "Then what are you waiting for? Just go up to him and tell him that you love him. I'm positive he feels the same way too."

Arcee lowered her head and thought about it. Is it possible that she has feelings in Jack? Does he share the same feelings as him?

* * *

As she was thinking about it, June wanted to talk to Jack about something that was important.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah mom. Is there something you want to say?"

Jack's mother remained hesitant at first until she spoke up.

June/Altra: "Well Jack, it's about Arcee. Do you care about her?"

Jack/Rodimus: "Well of course mom, I do care for her."

She then waved her servos in disapproval and repeats herself.

June/Altra: "No, no… Let me rephrase. Do you care for her in a different way?"

Rodimus raised an eyebrow and was confused by what she was saying.

Jack/Rodimus: "Where are you going with this mom?"

That was when Miko decided to butt in while Jack slowly drank his energon.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hello… What do you think she's asking? She wants to know if you have the hots for Arcee!"

That got him to nearly choke on his own Energon. Coughing for a few seconds, he turned to Kaosu and was in complete shock.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko! What made you say that?"

Miko/Kaosu: "You're kidding? It's strongly obvious that Arcee cares about you, especially since you've been turned into a robot."

Jack/Rodimus: "And what makes you think she cares for me?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Well, she pushed you to the limit in sparring, she always holds your hand that one time when to try to walk, and she was by your side in your recovery. So it's clear that she loves you a whole lot!"

Raf heard the conversation and nodded, turning to Rodimus to join in on the talk.

Raf/Firewall: "Miko is right Jack, Arcee seems to worry about you more then any other bot around here. Maybe she has a secret crush on you or something."

Jack stopped the two and tries to ignore what they were saying.

Jack/Rodimus: "Guys, please… I understand where you're going with this, but there is no way both Arcee and I would make a couple. We're partners ever since the day we me. Started out bumpy of course, but we grew stronger each passing second. I still don't know if she shares the same feelings I have."

June could tell that her son is concerned and his two friends aren't helping the matter since they're just forcing him to let it out. So she approached him and started to get all-strict.

June/Altra: "Jackson Darby, you listen to me. I know things have been complicated for the past few days but it would seem that you got a chance starting anew. And from what I saw, Arcee is the one that can help jump-start this new life you had. Just go up to her and talk to her about this."

The young former boy stayed quiet for some time as he looked up to his mother for an answer.

Jack/Rodimus: "Still, I don't know what to say to her or how am I going to show it."

After thinking about that, June decided to make it all simple.

June/Altra: "Just tell her that you love her. It's something she would like to hear. Believe me that I told you father that when we were just friends and things went up hill since. So please say that to her. I'm certain that she will say the same thing."

Jack heard his mother's words and finds them to be a bit informative. All he has to do is tell Arcee he loves her and see where that will go. But the main problem he has is that if she will love him back. As he was thinking about that, a familiar beep was heard followed by a familiar voice again.

Agent Fowler: _"Ratchet?"_

Ratchet, who was at the main console all day looked up to the screen and responded.

Ratchet: "I'm here Agent Fowler. Is there anything we can do for you?"

Fowler just smiled and gave him some good news.

Agent Fowler: _"Just calling to let you know that I got the vehicles for the recruits."_

The former humans heard that and headed around Ratchet.

Miko/Kaosu: "Really? You finally got our vehicle modes for us?"

The agent looked at the others and answered the Japanese girl's question.

Agent Fowler: _"You can say that? It wasn't an easy feat, but I've managed to get the cars you've requested. I have them all waiting for you at the Minot Airforce Base in North Dakota. I will give you the coordinates and have a someone waiting for you. Be here as soon as you can."_

Ratchet nodded and responded to the agent.

Ratchet: "Understood Agent Fowler. I'll let the others know of this news and bridge them as soon as possible."

Fowler nodded and finished the communication.

Agent Fowler: _"Good to know. Fowler out."_

The screen went blank as the kids were all giddy with excitement.

Ra/Firewall: "Did you hear that? We now have our alt modes!"

Jack/Rodimus: "Tell me about it. Just the thought of driving is going to be an interesting experience."

Miko/Kaosu: "This is going to be so exciting. I'm so stoked!"

Arcee: "What's going to be so exciting?"

They all turned around to see Team Prime heading back to the command center after that little chat. Ratchet noticed them too and told them what happened.

Ratchet: "Fowler called, saying that he got the vehicle modes ready for the recruits."

That got the team's attention as the two-wheeler responded.

Arcee: "Seriously? Never really thought that Fowler would pull through on our friend's requests."

The medic turned to them and explained it thoroughly.

Ratchet: "Apparently he did and he's waiting for all of you to come. I have to coordinates set for his position if you're all ready."

Arcee looked at the former humans and then at Jack himself. She was suppose to admit her feelings to him now but since this happened, she has to put this on hold. She then looked at the others and told them what's going to happen next.

Arcee: "Looks like you sparring and medical lessons will be put on hold for now. It's time for the four of you to get your vehicles."

It was then that the recruits were excited about getting their new vehicle modes as Miko fist pumped high in the air.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh yeah! I can't wait to get some wheels for shredding!"

Arcee shook her head and could tell that Miko and her alt mode is going to cause some problems. But she ignored it and decided to they needed a new lesson for their Cybertronian bodies. She turned to Ratchet and told him to bridge them.

Arcee: "Ratchet, bridge us to the coordinates Fowler provided. We're going to take our recruits to their next lesson."

Ratch nodded and inputted the coordinates the Agent had already sent. The moment the lever was pulled, the bridge opened up and the team started to head to it. Bulkhead then looked back and noticed that Wheeljack is staying behind and asked him if he's coming.

Bulkhead: "Hey Jackie, you're coming or not?"

The Wrecker turned to his friend and shook his head.

Wheeljack: "Naw. You go right ahead Bulk. I'll stay here and fix the Jackhammer. After what those humans did to it I need to make sure that it's in top shape."

Bulkhead nodded and followed the others. Once they entered the ground bridge, they all disappeared and the portal closed soon after.

* * *

At the Minot Airforce Base in North Dakota, it was on high alert just as the other bases incase of a Decepticon activity. Soldiers were on guard, tanks were in place and the jets were on stand by incase of an aerial assault. At the same time, a green portal opened up and Team Prime came out of it. As the portal closed behind them, they looked around and could tell that the place as on constant watch. Thankfully, the soldiers didn't react to them entering since the general of that base told everyone that the Autobots will be coming today. So they took a deep breath and was glad they didn't get shot. Arcee then places her digits to her helmet and contacted the base.

Arcee: "Arcee to base, do you read?"

After a few seconds of waiting, she heard the medic's voice through her audio receptors.

Ratchet: "Loud and clear Arcee. It would seem that the Comm. Scrambler Wheeljack installed is working perfectly. Still, I'll contact you incase any Decepticon activity is near your position."

The femme nodded and responded to that.

Arcee: "Understood Ratchet. Keep us posted."

As she shut off her comm. she heard a voice from below.

"Are you Team Prime?"

The group looked down and noticed a lone man in his early fifties wearing a marine uniform and has multiple ribbons and a purple heart on his right side. The femme looked at him and answered.

Arcee: "Yeah, it's us. And you are…"

The person straightened up and gave the introduction

General Tilson: "General Mark Tilson. I'm in charge of this facility. Welcome to Minot Airforce Base. Agent Fowler told me that you would be coming here today for some new vehicles for the recruits. Wasn't expecting you coming out though that portal. Next time, give us the heads up when entering our bases."

He then noticed the four new additions and asked about them.

General Tilson: "So, these are the recruits you're training huh? What are their names?"

The four turned to their former humans and could tell the general wanted to know who they are. So Arcee turned to him and told him their code names.

Arcee: "Their names are Rodimus, Altra, Firewall, and Kaosu."

The general nodded and was pleased with them.

General Tilson: "Ah, that's really good. Team Prime does need some additional help since what happened back at Jasper. Agent Fowler is waiting for you outside the main bunker not far from here. I'll take you to him."

The general just turned around and headed to the main bunker. As he was leaving, Miko turned to Jack and gave him the _'I told you so'_ look.

Miko/Kaosu: "And you say it was a bad idea to get code names for us."

Jack sighed in defeat and decided to leave it at that. The Autobots soon followed Tilson and looked around the base.

General Tilson: "Sorry about the updated security. You should understand that since Jasper was invaded the entire military is under high alert."

Arcee: "Can you blame them? With the Decepticons now making themselves right at home, it's not easy for any of us."

General Tilson: "You can say that again. Hell I have to double security around here since the recent attacks that happened."

The femme looked down at the general and finds that to be a bit shocking.

Arcee: "Recent attacks?"

Tilson looked back and explain to her about that.

General Tilson: "Yeah. There were reports that for the past few days that a couple of military complexes within the North and South Dakota areas were under attack and there were no survivors. From what we can gather on satellite photos is that a bunch of robots disguised as sports cars stormed into those bases and lay waste to them. Remind you of anyone?"

Arcee thought about it and knew that it was the work of Decepticons.

Arcee: "You could say that. But why would the Cons attack military bases in North and South Dakota?"

General Tilson: "Don't know… But my good guess is that they are slowly trying to chip away our defenses. No worries, this base is heavily prepared for an attack like that. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see my armada."

The two-wheeler groaned to herself and could tell that this general is full of himself. As they continue to walk, they approach a bunker that is bigger then the others. That's when they saw Agent Fowler waiting for them at the huge hanger doors. The group was surprised that he was there, but decided to move to the main hanger to greet him.

Arcee: "Agent Fowler, never thought you would be here for this momentous occasion."

Fowler just smiled and told her why he was here.

Agent Fowler: "Come on Arcee you know that whenever this has to do with the Autobots, I have to be present on anything that is important."

He then looked at Tilson and told him to leave.

Agent Fowler: "I'll handle it from here general."

Tilson nodded and they both did a quick salute. Once the general left the team, Fowler took over. He then looked at the recruits and asked them if they were ready.

Agent Fowler: "All right you four, you're ready to see your new vehicles?"

The four former humans looked at the agent and nodded with anticipation while Fowler smiled back.

Agent Fowler: "Good to know. Follow me."

He then turned around and headed to the main bunker while Team Prime followed him. The huge bay doors opened up the moment they approached it and the group went inside the bunker that was strangely empty with the exception some obstacles around the place.

Agent Fowler: "You can imagine how hard it was for me to get these beauties. Been pulling some serious strings with every car manufacturer, car dealership, and auto body workshop across to country to get them here. I'm just hoping what I got is to your liking."

Arcee rolled her optics around and was a little worried about the choices of the recruit's vehicles.

Arcee: "Let's just hope our friends choice of alt modes won't stick out in the crowd. We don't want to have ourselves another Smokescreen in the team."

Smoke turned to her and argued about that.

Smokescreen: "Hey! You were the one who told me that I need to keep a low profile! I just found a vehicle that suits my style."

She turned to the Elite Guard member and was a little arrogant.

Arcee: "Really Smoke? Cause the last time I check, a racing car with 38s driving down a freeway doesn't count as keeping a low profile."

Smoke sighed and decided to ignore her, knowing that his alt mode is the coolest thing out there. As they approached the middle of the room, Fowler stopped and showed the team what he got.

Agent Fowler: "Well, here we are. What do you think?"

The team looked at the middle of the bunker and were surprised by what they say. The former humans themselves got a look and were as excited as ever. In the middle of the room were four different vehicles, each one chosen by the trainees. For Jack, it was a black Hummer H2 with gray highlights on the sides and hood. For Rafael, his choice is a Scion XB with an orange brown pain job that shines brightly in the sun and moon. Miko's vehicle is a Mclaren mp4 12c with a purple paint job, pink flames on the sides, hood, and trunk of the car, and a sleek design that matches her body. And for June, hers is a Volvo S60 Sedan that's custom made for an emergency vehicle with a red and white paint design, red crosses on the front doors and hood, wording on the back that says 'Emergency Vehicle' and a built in siren on the hood. The four looked at their respected vehicles and stormed in to check them out.

Jack/Rodimus: "Whoa! Look at all of it! This is perfect!"

Raf/Firewall: "Yeah! And the details are just right!"

Miko/Kaosu: "I always wanted to get a car like this when I grow up. But being the very same car I want? Now that's a dream come true!"

June/Altra: "Don't get yourself over confident Miko. As car isn't about looks, it's how you drive it."

Kaosu turned to the nurse and sighed to herself.

Miko/Kaosu: "Phft… Fine, whatever…"

As the recruits continued to look at their new vehicles amazingly, the team watched and couldn't believe that they were acting like a bunch of children on Christmas. Bulk just whistled and looked down to the agent for congratulation.

Bulkhead: "Nice going Fowler! Who would've thought that you could pull through?"

The agent looked up to the team and smiled for an answer.

Agent Fowler: "After the what's been going on recently I thought this would be a good change of tone. Plus I have to come up with an excuse in why I needed four different vehicles for Bryce. Never an easy feat when he's stern to you."

Arcee looked down to him too and wondered about that.

Arcee: "And what did you say to the general?"

Fowler looked up to her and told her straight away.

Agent Fowler: "I just said that you Autobots managed to get some new recruits to help aid this country on the Decepticon threat. Didn't give them the why, who, and how since it will complicate things. But he understands we needed more help then ever."

The femme nodded and understood what he meant.

Arcee: "Good to hear. The last thing we want is for the general to know the truth. It could lead to some serious problems."

Agent Fowler: "Hmph… Tell me about it. Well I'll leave you with your teachings. Feel free use this bunker as a training course incase they want to start driving. I'll be from afar watching the view."

The two-wheeler nodded in approval as the agent walked away from them, finding a good spot to watch what's going to take place. Arcee then turned to the recruits and approached them, beginning the next lesson.

Arcee: "All right you four, now that you're done gawking at the vehicles you would be using, it's time for your next lesson on being an Autobot. Scanning your vehicles and transforming. Now as you all know, we are robots in disguise, meaning that you need to transform into a variety of vehicles to help both blend to our environment and keep a low profile. You can't just leave the base in your bipedal modes or you'll catch the attention of both humans and Decepticons. If you don't scan a vehicle, then you won't be able to survive for long. Let's beginning with scanning a certain disguise. Jack, you're up first."

Rodimus looked back and forth between the Hummer and his partner and was a little nervous.

Jack/Rodimus: "Uh, Arcee? Exactly how do you scan a vehicle?"

She sighed to herself and decided to continue the lesson.

Arcee: "Scanning a ground or air vehicle is very simple. Just focus on that vehicle and the scan can do the rest."

Jack turned to the Hummer and was curious about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Just look and scan huh? That doesn't sound too hard."

So he looked at the Hummer and focused hard. As he was focusing a message appeared in front of his optics.

**_Vehicular Form Sighted  
Query: Scan  
Confirm/Deny_**

Jack looked at the message and didn't expect that the scanners want him to choose a vehicle. So he mentally select confirms and another message appeared.

**_Scan Commencing…_**

In seconds, his optics changed from blue to green and a bright array of green light came out of it. It slowly lowered to the Hummer and scanned it from top to bottom. The team watched on and was in awe at how quick he was able to scan the vehicle. As the scan completed, another message appeared.

_Scan Complete_

**_Armor Repositioning Commencing…_**

That's when another change took place. Both on the inside and out, he could feel metal shifting to accommodate his scan. It felt a little uncomforting at first, but it was over quickly.

_**Repositioning Complete**_

Jack looked down at himself and didn't notice anything different. Aside from a few changes here and there, he still looked the same.

Jack/Rodimus: "Whoa… That was weird…"

Arcee just laughed a little and explained to her partner what happened.

Arcee: "That was your armor repositioning itself to accommodate your scan. A little strange at first, but it was over soon after. Now that you've scanned your vehicle, it's time you learn to transform. Now transforming is the next step in blending in to the world around you. Changing into your vehicle mode is really useful when it comes to driving from point A to point B or in a heated battle. Now transforming is as easy as tying your shoes. Simply focus on the image of the car you scanned and keep yourself calm. Like so."

She lifted her arms up to the side and started her change from robot mode to vehicle mode. Her changes were shift, elegant, and the limbs and mechanics flows easily. As the transformation finished, she was the blue motorcycle Jack first laid eyes on. The second she transformed back to her bipedal mode, she looked at Jack and told him to do the same.

Arcee: "See? Easy as one, two, three. Now you try it Jack."

Rodimus nodded and started to focus on the image of the Hummer he scanned. The gears started to turn and he could feel his armor shifting, but he was just like Bumblebee when he lost his T-Cog. He tried it a couple of times only to fail miserably. Arcee looked on and could tell that he was in trouble, so she told him to calm down.

Arcee: "Easy Jack, you're forcing yourself to transform. Clear your head and take deep breaths. Think clearly."

Jack nodded and started to calm himself. The moment he took a deep breath, he could feel himself falling and collapsing as the armor and car parts shifted into their proper place. Within seconds, where Jack was is now a Hummer H2 that is identical to the other. Team Prime watched on and was amazed by what Jack did as Arcee approached him and was pleased with the results.

Arcee: "Excellent work Jack! You really transformed flawlessly."

Jack's response was trying out opening his doors, trunk, and hood and responded with an awkward tone.

Jack/Rodimus: "Thanks Arcee. Though this is all a little weird to me. I mean, why am I seeing in multiple angles?"

Jack turned his review mirrors and bash board mirror around and find that part to be a bit strange. Arcee then started to explain about that.

Arcee: "You are looking into your review mirrors when in vehicle mode. Perfect when it comes to a small chase or observing the world around you. You'll eventually get use to it. Now do the same thing, but this time concentrate in you robot mode."

Rodimus focused on being a robot again and calm himself. He was able to return to his normal mode to everyone's surprise and was glad that he was able to return to normal.

Jack/Rodimus: "That's much better. Still, don't know if I can get use to the whole transforming part."

Arcee then approached him and place her servo on his shoulder for reassurance.

Arcee: "I know this whole transforming thing is still new to you. But give it a few solar cycles and I'm sure that it will be normal for you."

Jack smiled and understood his partner's own words as he thanked her.

Jack/Rodimus: "Thanks Arcee, I really appreciate it."

The femme smiled knowing that Jack will have to live with this new type of normal. The others looked on and enjoyed this touching moment. They knew that the two have a crush on each other, they just can't admit to it yet. They just hope that both Arcee and Jack say it soon so that they can be more then just simple partners. For the past five to ten minutes, each recruit scanned their own vehicles and transformed. Took them a while to transform and get use to their vehicle forms, but they will survive that part. Once all four of them have the scanning and transforming down, they prepare themselves for the next lesson. Smokescreen stood by as the recruits stood in line.

Smokescreen: "Now that you got the whole transforming part down it's time to move on to the next lesson. Being in vehicle doesn't mean you have to remain in disguise in front of the public. You have to transport yourself to anywhere you want to go. So today we are going to teach you on how to drive yourself."

That's when Kaosu asked a question to the Elite Guard member.

Miko/Kaosu: "Why would we need to learn how to drive? It's just like driving in a video game. Gas, break, left, and right. That simple."

Smoke turned to her and told her that's not the case.

Smokescreen: "Actually Miko, driving in real life it much more different then driving in a virtual world. Sometimes you need to learn some quick moves, sharp turns, and other neat tricks to help you though a chase or be properly used in battle. This is why we have this obstacle course set up in the bunker, to help you with your driving skills."

Miko/Kaosu: "Puh-lease… Driving is so easy! Here, let me show you."

To that she transformed into the Mclaren she scanned and revved her engines. Jack looked at her and was worried about what to happen.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Duh Jack. I know exactly what I'm doing. I mean how hard can it beeeeeeeEEEEEE!"

Unfortunately for the Japanese femme, she had her gears shift to reverse and she pressed hard on the gas. She then sped backwards and didn't have any control over her vehicle mode. Thankfully, she was able to stop, when she accidentally crashed into a stack of metal crates. She immediately transformed back and rubbed the back of her helm with her optics spinning.

Miko/Kaosu: "Ow…"

Fowler saw that unexpected event palm face himself, knowing that it took the soldiers less then an hour setting that up. The others looked at what Miko had done as Smokescreen approached her with a smile on his face.

Smokescreen: "See what I mean when there's a difference between real driving and fake driving? If you want to be an Autobot, you need to learn on how to drive properly. "

He then stretched out a servo to her to help lift her up. Miko saw the servo and took it, getting up and dusting herself from the crash.

Miko/Kaosu: "Fine… I'll do things your way. Better then crashing into a wall."

Smoke nodded and turned to the other recruits.

Smokescreen: "Now that we got that out of the way, shall we begin with basic driving?"

Hours have passed since they begin to learn how to drive. They started with the basics, followed by learning on making swift moves like U turns, T turns, drifts, boosts, and driving backwards. The kids were slowly trying to get a hang of all of that since some of them were young and didn't have much of a driver's license. But for June, driving was pretty easy for her since she already knows how to drive. Now they were driving around the track within the bunker, trying to use their skills in tight situations while the rest of Team Prime was supervising. Arcee was next to Fowler observing their driving skills and she was impressed by it.

Arcee: "Got to admit, for a bunch of rookies they are certainly quick learners. A little rough around the edges though, but they do deserve improvement."

Agent Fowler: "Indeed. After what they've been through, I'm quite surprised that they are adjusting to their new lives. And to think that a few days ago they were once human."

Arcee: "A lot of things have changed since then. But no matter how they look or what they do, they're still our friends to us."

They continue to watch the former humans on their improving driving skills until Fowler turned to Arcee and talked about something important.

Agent Fowler: "By the way Arcee, I've been doing some extra research on this Sumdac guy that helped you save your friends and I found something very interesting."

That got the femme's attention as she looked down to him and asked.

Arcee: "Really? Well what did you learn from your research?"

Agent Fowler: "Well it turns out that this Issac Sumdac is actually a big time deal in the robotics department. He started tinkering with robots since he was a little kid and as he got older became a mogul in robotics engineering. He created a company called Sumdac Industries where he made robots for medical, construction, and security. Even won a Nobel Peace Prize for his hard work and commitment for his skills."

Arcee: "So what happened to him? Why did he start working for MECH?"

Agent Fowler: "Well from what I can gather is that his company was under a slow decline since his wife died in a car accident eight years ago. The poor woman got killed by a multicar pile up in a busy intersection and left behind a daughter, the only family he has left. He was in isolation for half of those years and couldn't concentrate on work. Can't blame him though. I would be distraught too if my wife got killed in a fatal accident as well."

Arcee: "That still didn't answer my question."

Agent Fowler: "Yeah, about that. There were some reports stating that Sumdac temporarily left his company to work on some side project with a certain client. That happened a few months ago, around the time that Silas tried to grab the D.I.N.G.U.S."

Arcee: "And discovered our existence. Typical… So I take it this client is the Director and this side project was the project that turned our friends into our kind."

Agent Fowler: "In a matter of speaking. It would seem that Leonard Church found out about Sumdac's skills and brought him into MECH the help build the head scientist's project from the ground up. Couldn't believe that an innocent man got dragged into this mess."

Arcee: "Well what do you expect? Sometimes someone looking for a restart only lead to some consequences. Thanks for giving me this information Fowler. At least we know the Sumdac is an innocent pawn in all of this."

Agent Fowler: "Well after news of Cons attacking military complexes it was a hard time trying to find any research to begin with."

Arcee: "Yeah, Tilson told us about what happened to all those bases in both Dakotas. Are you sure that the Decepticons are really behind that."

Agent Fowler: "Well what do you expect? We don't have hard evidence to prove that Cons did that, only word from those in transmissions before they've been cut off. Why do you ask that? You think your enemy's aren't responsible for these actions?"

Arcee just looked back at the former humans driving around the track and came up with a good answers.

Arcee: "Well Megatron is a cold sparkless leader, but he's not much of a planner. He doesn't know much about your bases so there's no way he would attack them without gathering the locations. Plus it's not like him to attack just the bases in North and South Dakota and not the others across the states. No I think that someone else is causing this trouble."

Agent Fowler: "And if that's the case, then who's the culprit?"

Arcee: "Don't really know, but I got a really good feeling we'll find out soon."

Fowler turned back to the training and wondered if what Arcee said was true. Back in the field, the trainees continued with their driving lessons and were getting better, especially Miko after that one little debacle she had. Smokescreen looked on and decided they needed a break.

Smokescreen: "All right, I think it's time for a break!"

As soon as he said that, both Jack, June, and Raf parked close to each other and transformed into their bot modes feeling a little tired.

Jack/Rodimus: "Finally some time off! Who would've thought that driving could be so tiring?"

Raf/Firewall: "Tell me about it. I'm just twelve and a quarter and I never driven in my life. How does the Autobots do that?"

June/Altra: "Well it's not that bad. I mean I know how to drive for a long time so this is all too easy for me. But this new type of driving is going to take some adjusting to."

Jack then looked around and noticed there was someone else missing from the group, a certain Japanese girl.

Jack/Rodimus: "Hey, have any of you seen Miko?"

The moment he asked that question, Miko came out of nowhere in her vehicle mode, creating a huge drift and making tire tracks on the ground. The others looked on and groaned, knowing that she's now more aggressive then ever in her Mclaren form.

Raf/Firewall: "My guess, getting too comfortable in her driving abilities."

Jack/Rodimus: "Great… Not only she's over confident in her weapons ability, she's also a driving maniac! I just wish that she didn't see me and Arcee that day."

She drove straight to the three with blinding speed and made a quick stop while doing a 360 turn. Transforming mid turn, she was overly excited on her accomplishment while gesturing to what she had done.

Miko/Kaosu: "Woo-hoo! That was awesome! Did you seem me out there? I was like 'vroom' and then going 'screech' on that turn and 'zoom' pass that tanker over there and the next you know, 'swoosh' under that piles of wood. So wicked!"

The others just starred at her then looked at each other in complete and utter confusion. Jack then turned to the newly recruited Wrecker and responded to her actions.

Jack/Rodimus: "Okay Miko. We get it. You're good and driving."

Kaosu turned to him and re-corrected him.

Miko/Kaosu: "I'm a good driver? No Jack, I'm an excellent driver! In fact, I think I can beat you in a little race. What do you say? You and me around this track!"

Rodimus blinked a bit and realized that she wanted to compete against him, but he's not interested in that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, we're here to train not compete. This isn't one of those video game competitions we've done for months. Besides, I tried racing for real once and nearly paid a price. I don't want to get involved in that again."

The Japanese femme heard those words and felt a little defeated at first. But she always gets her way and decided to coax him into her clutches.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh don't tell the great Jack that went to Cybertron, survived many dangers, and surpassed all odds is afraid to get beaten, to a girl, again…"

That got Jack's attention as he turned to her with a confident smile on his face.

Jack/Rodimus: "You want to beat me so badly, then you're on!"

June heard what her son said and didn't like where this was going, so she intervened.

June/Altra: "Jackson Darby! You are not going to transform and race when I'm around!"

Jack turned to her mother and argued about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Aw… C'mon mom!"

As they were arguing, the rest of Team Prime watched on and was intrigued by the conversation.

Bumblebee: _**(Strange… They are now Cybertronian, but they are acting like humans.)**_

Bulkhead: "Tell me about it Bee. I guess that old Earth saying is still true. The more things change, the more they stay the same."

As everything was getting back to normal, there was a huge explosion coming from the outside as the whole bunker started to shake violently. Every Autobot nearly lost their footing as lights started to sway as obstacles started to topple over each other. Jack looked up at the lights and didn't know what just happened.

Jack/Rodimus: "Guys? What was that?"

Fowler, who fell on the floor after the explosion, got up and dusted himself while wondering the same thing. That's when he got a call on his cell phone and answered it.

Agent Fowler: "Tilson, what's going on out there?!" … "What? We're under attack?! Who would do something that-" … "Are you sure it's them?" … "If that's the case let the Autobots-" … "You're sure you want them to leave? They can be of good help." … "Understood Tilson. I'll make sure they get out safely."

He hung up the phone as Arcee approached him wondering about the conversation.

Arcee: "What's happening?"

He turned to her and told her the bad news.

Agent Fowler: "The Minot Airforce Base is under attack, by Decepticons."

Arcee was surprised about this, but knew it was going to happen.

Arcee: "Guess Tilson upgraded security wasn't so upgraded after all. You certain that it was Decepticons?"

Agent Fowler: "From what Tilson can tell, it was them. Too bad details are sketchy. Whatever the case, the base is compromised now. They will tear this place apart until the spot all of you and shoot you down. You have the leave this facility now. Contact Ratchet to bridge all of you out of here while I get everyone evacuated as much as I can."

The femme just remained silent when she heard all of those words, seething from the news. Normally, she would follow orders and tell Ratchet to bridge to team to the base. But something in her processor tells her that it wasn't right to leave while human soldiers die out there. So coming to conclusions, she narrowed her optics and responded in one word.

Arcee: "No…"

Fowler and the others were quiet about what she said as the agent raised an eyebrow.

Agent Fowler: "Excuse me?"

Arcee: "We are not going to leave here while more humans perish. We're going to fight."

The team heard this and approached her, rejecting that idea.

Smokescreen: "What!? Arcee, you can't be serious!"

Bumblebee: _**(We can't go out there.)**_

Bulkhead: "Bryce's orders states that we can't get out of hiding until the Decepticon heat is off of us. If the Cons see us we won't stand a chance."

Arcee: "Well General Bryce is no Optimus! Don't you see? Optimus made a promise that there won't be any human casualties in our war. But now things have changed and the Decepticons have killed many innocent lives already, both in Jasper and in many military bases. We can't hide like a bunch of cowards while more lives are at risk. We have to act now! No more taking refuge, no more waiting, and no more cowardice. It is time we start fighting for the sake of human kind. Optimus would want that in his memory. So, are you all in?"

The three looked at each other and thought about what she said. Indeed that they need to hide when the Cons are searching for them, but they have a mission to take care of. All the humans were in danger since the Jasper invasion and they need to do something about it. They cannot hide from them anymore like a bunch of cowards, they have to fight. So they turned to her and responded.

Bulkhead: "All right, we'll do it."

Bumblebee: _**(We'll fight!)**_

Smokescreen: "For Optimus."

Arcee smiled and could tell that they are ready to defend all human kind.

Arcee: "Good to hear. Let's go!"

They all headed to the bunker's doors and were about to leave. Miko then heard about that and was getting overly excited.

Miko/Kaosu: "Sweet! Time for some serious Con bashing!"

She rushed up to them and was ready to join in. But Arcee stopped her and told her to stay.

Arcee: "Oh no Miko! You remain here with the others."

The girl was upset about this and let out a sigh in anger.

Miko/Kaosu: "But Arcee…"

Arcee: "No buts missy. You might have bodies of adult Cybertronians, but you are still training. You are all not ready for battle, not yet at least. The last thing we want is a bunch of trainees getting killed. Just stay here until we get the all-clear signal. Understand?"

Miko was about to protest about this until Jack gave her a clear understanding.

Jack/Rodimus: "Listen Miko, I know your itching for a fight. But this is an extreme situation we're in. We can't fight just yet and even if we do that we won't last seconds against the Cons. So please listen to her for once."

Kaosu sighed to herself and decided to follow his advice.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right, I got the message. This is a major bummer for me…"

The two-wheeler looked at Jack and gave a pleasant smile, knowing that he got the message. She then turned to the others and gave the order.

Arcee: "Times ticking. Let's save the human race from extinction. Let's roll!"

As she was about to leave, Jack said something to her to get her attention.

Jack/Rodimus: "Arcee!"

She looked at her partner as he said something to her.

Jack/Rodimus: "Be careful out there."

The femme smiled and nodded as a gesture of _'I will'_. She and the others ran to the door as it opened for them to go through. Once they closed behind them, Miko turned to Rodimus and had a coy look on her face.

Miko/Kaosu: "Be careful out there huh? It's official, you love her!"

He turned to the Japanese femme and gave a really deep glare, trying to ignore her as best as he could.

* * *

Outside of the bunker the air force base is a whole lot different then when they first arrived. There was smoke coming out of some buildings, combat vehicles were on fire, and half the jets were ablaze. In short, the entire place has gone straight to hell. General Tilson was at the lead with a bunch of soldiers firing their grenade launchers at the enemy.

General Tilson: "Hold them off! We cannot let them overrun the base!"

As he gave the order, he heard a feminine voice in the distance.

Arcee: "So much for upgraded security."

The general turned around and saw Team Prime standing there with a look of concern. Tilson just sighed to himself and told him about what happened.

General Tilson: "Just a minor setback on protecting the facility. Nothing to worry about. Just get back in that bunker. We have everything under control."

The second he said that, a huge explosion came from nearby and nearly knocked everyone off their feet. Smokescreen looked at the explosion that came from one of the bunkers and didn't like the looks of it.

Smokescreen: "Doesn't look like it to me."

Arcee decided to make action and told the general to retreat.

Arcee: "General Tilson, I think it's wise and you and your men vacate this facility while we handle the Cons. Trust us when we say you are no match of them. Move!"

Tilson looked at the femme and was a little skeptical about her decision, but since they're dealing with something beyond their control he had no other choice. He turned to his men to told them to leave.

General Tilson: "You heard the lady, fallback! Fallback!"

Immediately, every soldier followed that order and made a run for it. As they were leaving, Tilson turned to the femme and told her something.

General Tilson: "Bryce isn't going to be happy about what you're doing."

Arcee: "At least he would be glad that we're saving the human race as much as we could. Now go!"

Tilson nodded and ran away, getting to safety like the others. Once all the humans were gone, Arcee armed her blaster and told the others to be prepared.

Arcee: "Keep you're guard up, we don't know what we're up against."

The others nodded as they got their blasters at the ready. They slowly approached the debris wreckage to see where the enemy was located. Just as they were in the halfway point, something zoomed past them. Bee pointed his blasters at what past them and found nothing. He looked back to the others and told them what he saw.

Bumblebee: _**(I think we got company!)**_

Again, something else zoomed by followed by another and another. Bulkhead charged both of his blasters and saw them wiz by.

Bulkhead: "Yeah, lots of them. Can't tell by the smoke."

It was then that more cars came by and started to surround the team in a circle. The Autobots had their backs on each other and could tell that this is trouble. So they decided to get some elbowroom for themselves.

Arcee: "Well then let's get them out of the clearing. Round them up!"

Immediately, the team got their blasters up and fired at the vehicles around them. The enemy vehicles started to scatter as the group used their weapons to get them out of the smoke. Even Bulkhead used his wrecking balls and slammed them to the ground, causing the cars to steer clear from him. Once the cars got out of the smoke, the team soon followed after them and noticed them trapped behind a wall of a bunker. When they got a good look at the enemy, they noticed that they were twelve green sports cars, all revving their engines. Bumblebee took a good look at them and remembered what they are.

Bumblebee: _**(Wait… Those aren't Decepticons.)**_

Bulkhead: "You're right Bee, those look like the type of cars MECH used on some occasions. What are they doing here?"

Arcee: "Don't know, but it looks like we got them trapped. Still, why are they attacking when reports stated that the other bases were under attack by Cons?"

Just as she asked that, they all heard strange sounds coming from the cars themselves. Looking at them, they were caught off guard as they did something they never thought possible. They transformed. Each car grew and shifted and car parts moved to their proper position. When the changes were finished, what was once cars were now fully adult mechs that were similar of Bumblebee's design, only their color armor was green and faceplates had helmet like head, a covered mouth guard and hunting green eyes. The team looked on and was shocked at what they have seen.

Smokescreen: "I think that answers your question Arcee."

As the Elite Guard member said that, the MECH bots pointed their arms at them as they formed a gattling plasma gun glowing a lighter green. Arcee looked at all of them and finally figured it out. MECH did it. MECH had created the greatest weapon of them all.

Arcee: "Scrap…"

* * *

Finally got that chapter out of the way. Wow! This took a little longer then I expected. Now to recap on the vehicle modes the former humans now have. Jack has a Hummer H2, Raf's a Scion XB, Miko car is a Mclaren mp4 12c, and June has a Volvo S60 Sedan customized as an emergency vehicle. That would complete the whole thing. Now like I said at the beginning, I'm hoping that someone would started making some artwork about Jack, Raf, Miko, and June in their Cybertronian modes complete with weapons and vehicle modes. If you guys are stuck on it and need to see a brief summary, I'll post their bios on my bio page and update it for new material. I trust that it would be helpful. On the next chapter, The Autobots fight off MECH's latest weapons and get the unlikeliest of sources. I'm sure you guess who it is. Please Review and let me know if you up to making art for these new Autobots.


	11. MECHicons

**Well time to get started with chapter 11 of my own version of Season 3 of TFP. But first of all I need to get something off of my chest. Now I promised myself that I won't be watching Beast Hunters until I get started with my second episode. Well, I have a little confession to make. See I checked Wikipedia on any future episodes and sort of spoiled myself. Turns out that Optimus is alive and upgraded, the team has been reunited with the addition of Ultra Magnus, the Deceptcon citadel was destroyed, and they got themselves a new base. So yeah, my bad on my part. But at least on the bright side that it didn't go down to a season that's dark and had a survival of the fittest type of series. Still though, there are a few things I'm a little weary about. Though I'm glad that they didn't customized most of Team Prime's looks yet until maybe future episodes, there are those that I have questions about. Optimus's new look for example made him look like a badass thanks to the forge hammer, but it looks like he had been taken one too many steroids. And what's up with Bumblebee's new armor color? It looks like he has more black and less yellow. This sounded like a shattered glass version of Bumblebee should look like not the real one. But those are just little nit picks since everything else turned out to be all right. Still I don't know if I would add Optimus's new looks into my story or not. Still early to come to a decision, but we'll see in the near future. I just hope they don't make any more changes to any of the characters because I like them the way they are.**

**Let's see what people said on the last chapter. Got 24 reviews and over 1,300 hits! This is impressive for my count and it would seem that people want me to write more. There are some things that I need to get out on a few reviews. Primordial Soul said he wasn't a big fan of the human name/cybertronian name dialog and wanted me to stick with one name. Though I appreciate his thoughts in this, I don't know if I could do that. See, if I stick with one name and I go back and forth with both human and cybertronian names, readers would get a little confused with who's who. So that's why I wanted to do it this way so people can get an understanding on who I'm talking about. There were also two readers that told me that I would go slow in the relationship between Arcee and Jack. I think those two readers do have a point. Now what I did with that accidental kiss a few chapters ago was kind of funny, but now I think I'm rushing it a little bit. I'll try to go slow with their romance, but I don't want to go too slow. We'll see… Still, didn't get any word from anyone that would draw up some art on the Jack, Raf, Miko, or June as Cybertronians. Though someone wanted to do one with the Autobots as human, but that's not what I wanted. No matter, I just hope someone gets around to it. Just let me know through the private messages or reviews okay?**

**Back to the story. In this chapter, the Autobots fend off against the MECH's newest weapons. Will they be able to survive it? This is one chapter you don't want to miss out on.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Got another Red vs. Blue Easter egg for all of you. This one has the appearance of Tucker and a new character from the series. Let's just say that this one came from command, you'll know it when you see it. Just to let you know that the scene could be a little offensive for little kids. If you're a child or a parent that's letting your child reading it, I suggest you skip that part so you won't get traumatized. Trust me, the last thing I want is people getting angry with me for that part.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: MECHicons

_Commander Rourke's Journal Entry_  
_April 21, 20XX_

_So far, the procedures and training are well ahead of schedule. The soldiers that volunteered to take part of the project expanded to almost a thousand and more are on the way. Though it was unfortunate that the test subjects we used were taken by the Autobots, we've managed to recover with the help of Silas's research on the weapons and transforming abilities. Training was successful as well as the soldiers passed any obstacles in a matter of days. Though they passed in flying colors, the Director decided that they needed some on field training._

_We've already sent a small group of soldiers to attack a couple of military bases around our facility in hopes of how well they perform against the enemy. So far they managed to take out the first five in the past few days. Still waiting on the results from the Milton Airforce base in North Dakota. I'm hoping that the destruction of that caliber will make the board please with the Director's project. There is one thing the Director is worried about though._

_At the time the Autobots infiltrated the previous facility and took off with our test subjects, the head scientist believed that someone has helped them in the escape. He has reason to believe that the one he hired, Professor Sumdac, seem to have been involved in this incident. I've already have my chief of security looking into the footage of the escape back at the old facility. Though I don't know if what he said is true or not. I just hope this little intern the Director brought in didn't cause any trouble during that time._

* * *

At the Milton Airforce base, the real battle has taken place. A group of MECH soldiers, now as robotic soldier, are fighting the Autobots. They started to fire their gattling energy guns at the team as waves upon waves of lasers headed towards them. Team Prime was caught off guard and they fallback while firing their weapons at the enemy. So far they've manage to take down two of them right in the heads as they fell to the floor and went offline. But the others didn't mind as they continued to fire at the team. The Autobots managed to get cover behind the a couple of _turned_ over cars and hid there doing some covering fire while the others spread out to get an advantage on them. Bumblebee took a peek at the now ten more soldiers in front of them as more projectiles came to his side. He quickly ducked down and turned to the others about the situation.

Bumblebee: _**(Just as things couldn't get any worse, this happens.)**_

Smokescreen: "Tell me about it Bee. I know you guys took on MECH many times, but this is ridiculous!"

Arcee: "Looks like MECH managed to improve on the Director's little science project. This day keeps on getting better. I'm contacting Ratchet."

She placed her free servo on her helm while using her other as a blaster to continue to fire.

Arcee: "Arcee to base, do you read? We have a situation!"

She waited a few seconds until she heard Ratchet on the other end.

Ratchet: _"I read you Arcee. What's going on out there?"_

Arcee: "Milton Airforce base is under attack!"

Ratchet: _"What?! That's absurd! I didn't detect any Decepticon signature near the area! Though I did pick up some unknown ones but didn't look like anything out of the ordinary."_

Arcee: "It's not the Decepticons Ratch! It's MECH! Those unknown signatures you've detected are MECH's cybertronian soldiers. The Director certainly had raised the bar on his work."

There was a bit of silence on the comm. frequency until Ratchet spoke up in shock.

Ratchet: _"Oh you have got to be fragging KIDDING ME! You mean to tell me MECH created new Cons to attack you?"_

Arcee: "You can say that. We are out number and in need of an assist!"

Ratchet: _"Understood. I'll bridge all of you back to base immediately."_

Arcee: "Negative Ratchet! We're not vacating the base when human lives are endanger. Just contact Wheeljack! We're going to need some air support now!"

Ratchet: _"What do you mean you can't leave? Do you have any idea what General Bryce will do if you disobey another order? You can't just-"_

Arcee: "We are not leaving these humans to die on our count! Optimus wouldn't want that to happen! Get Wheeljack and tell him to haul aft to our position! NOW!"

Another brief silence as Ratchet thought about it. After much debating, he came up with a conclusion.

Ratchet: _"Very well… I'll contact Wheeljack as soon as I can, but I don't know if that's likely. He already left the base just to see if his ship is working properly. I even don't know if he has his comm. scrambler installed on his Jackhammer or not. I try to get to him ASAP."_

Arcee: "Got it Ratchet. Make it quick!"

She hung up on her comm. as Bulkhead turned to her about the conversation while taking cover fire.

Bulkhead: "Well, what did the doc said?"

The femme turned to him and told the Wrecker about the situation.

Arcee: "Bad news. Apparently Wheeljack is a little busy at the moment. We're on our own for now."

The other sighed in defeat as more blaster fire came around them. Smokescreen, who was on the left side of cover, looked to her for another way out of this.

Smokescreen: "Terrific… Now what are we going to do?"

She then turned to the Elite Guard member and came to a really good conclusion.

Arcee: "We stand our ground and fight."

That's when Smoke told her about that idea.

Smokescreen: "I don't know if that's a good idea Cee. You know we can't take down humans."

The two-wheeler gave a sly smile and told them about their enemy.

Arcee: "But they're not human anymore Smokescreen, they're robots. So that means…"

Smoke heard those words and wondered what she was saying. After thinking about that, his optics were wide and was smiling about it.

Smokescreen: "That means we won't hold back!"

The second he said that, he jumped over cover and transformed midway, racing his way to the enemies in his racecar form. The MECH bots saw him coming out of cover and tried to shoot him down. But he sped fast enough to avoid all the projectiles imaginable. When he got close to them, he made a quick drift and knocked all the mechanized soldiers from left to right. As he was done with that, he transformed, armed his blaster, and shot one bot in the chest, right through the spark chamber. With the MECH enemy gone, Smokescreen went to the next soldier that was getting up and tackled him to the ground before he could strike back, pinning him and beating him in the process. The others looked on and were glad that the Elite Guard member managed to take them all out. Which meant that they have the opening they needed.

Arcee: "This is our chance team! Take them out!"

Soon enough the other three got out of their cover and transformed into their vehicle modes, speeding right towards their targets. The MECH bots got up and was a little woozy from the take down drift, but looked up to see the others heading to them in blinding speeds. They immediately reacted to it and began their attack as the first half was firing while the other half was transformed and headed straight to them. Arcee in her motorcycle form headed straight to the first three and noticed some debris that formed into a ramp. She took that ramp and launched into the air. Transforming mid air, she did a flip and shifted it into a speeding torpedo kick, hitting the soldier in the middle right of the faceplate. That force of the kick knocked him off to the ground but didn't offline him yet. The other two looked at the down comrade then turned to the femme that flipped back and landed on the ground with a quick stance. The other two then gotten into their stances and activated their secondary weapons, a pair of small sharp daggers under their wrists. The two charged in as Arcee was a little impressed by it.

Arcee: "Hmm… Not bad. But let me show you mine!"

She then deployed her arm blades and positioned herself of a fight. The soldiers then used their daggers to pull some swift strikes to the femme. Arcee managed to block them all with her blades in many directions used one block high in the air to hold off the last attack. Using all of her strength, she found an opening and kicked the one soldier in the fuel tank, getting him down partly. The other noticed that retaliated with a few more attempted slashes but the two wheeler saw him and used her body to dodge those attacks before ducking down and sweeping him off his feet. The second she got up; she pinned him with her foot and aimed her blasters at his head. But before she could do that, she got blasted to the shoulder and was sent flying to the ground, skidding to a stop. Looking at the slightly burned shoulder, she looked up and saw the first MECH bot she took down a while ago getting up with his blaster targeting at her. The other two and joined him and aimed their blasters as well. The two-wheeler was able to get up with her blasters armed and the two factions started to fire at each other.

Bumblebee drove to the two other MECH soldiers with incredible speed and avoiding any projectiles that came near him. The one soldier that's in his sports car mode moved at the exact same speed and was heading to the Autobot. Both the scout and the soldier collided with each other and sent soaring in the air in slow motion, transforming after the impact. As they both landed to the ground, they got into their stances and were ready to slug it out. The MECH goon then charged to him with a couple of jabs as Bee swiftly dodged them. He then got an opening and used his one two punch combination to daze the enemy and use a kick to the chin to knock him silly while the scout went upside down in the air. As soon as he landed back down, he saw the enemy feeling a little out and was trying to get up. He was about ready for round two when the other soldier approached him silently and had his dagger ready to pierce through his spark. But the scout felt that coming and performed a back knuckle jab to the enemy's face, leaving him stunned for a few good seconds before Bee used both hands to the neck and bending down to throw him to the other soldier. The other soldier was getting up and was shaking the cobwebs from his face, only to be hit by his own comrade in the chest, sending the two tumbling into each other.

For Bulkhead, he too was driving to the next three as they were firing right at him. The other two decided to transform and sped to him just to trap him. The Wrecker looked on and could tell that they had made a big mistake. As they got close to him, Bulkhead did a quick slick move and slam the first car to the right, making the car loose control and steer like crazy and crashing to the other and tumbling into each other. With them out of the way, he focused on the other bot that was shooting at him. He went into maximum overdrive and used that speed to reach the enemy. The second he got there; he changed into his bot mode and slammed him to the ground. The MECH soldier was hit by the impact that he backed away slowly and nearly lost his footing. This gives Bulkhead the time to hit the enemy in the face with his wrecking ball and use his other servo the form a blaster just to shoot him in the spark chamber, full power. With the soldier terminated, he turned to the others that were getting up and armed his wrecking balls to give them a serious beat down. The two bots were able to get up from the last strike and saw the Wrecker heading to them in a full run. They got themselves into a stance and were ready to fight. Though they have the skills to fight against the enemy, they were no match for Bulk as he knocked them silly with his weapons.

Meanwhile with Smokescreen, he was still pinning the soldier he took down and beating him senselessly to the point where he would be in stasis. Another MECH soldier saw that his comrade was in trouble and aimed his blaster at the Elite Guard member. Smoke peeked up to see him to that and lifted the unconscious body up to protect him while the blasts hit the enemy in the back. The Autobot then got up and made a dash to the side, arming his blaster and firing it at his target. The MECH goon ran to opposite direction and used his blaster to fire at the Elite Guard member. Soon enough the two ran into a circle trying to shoot each other. But as they were shooting, one of the projectiles passed the Autobot and hit a nearby by gas tank, creating a huge explosion that sent two flying away from the blast.

* * *

As the fight was going on, the trainees were waiting in the main bunker with Fowler, wondering if they were going to be okay. But just as they were waiting, another blast was heard on the outside that caused the place to shake violently. It was obvious that the blast came from the tanker the enemy shot at by accident. Jack, also known as Rodimus, looked up at the shaking ceiling and wondered what that was about.

Jack/Rodimus: "What was that?"

Raf, who is also called Firewall, turned to his friend and told him what happened.

Raf/Firewall: "Sounded like the Decepticons have an advantage. And it doesn't sound good at all…"

June, A.K.A. Altra, heard the blast too and was scared about what's going to happen.

June/Altra: "I just hope the Autobots will stop them from attacking us. The last thing we want is for them to get killed in the attack."

Fowler looked up at the nurse and told her and everything will be all right.

Agent Fowler: "Rest assure Miss Darby, Team Prime might be small but they're strong in numbers. They dish out many Cons before meeting any of you. I'm sure they will succeed."

Just then, another blast was heard and the ceiling lights swayed back and forth, making the recruits a little nervous. Jack turned to the former Army Rangers and told him differently.

Jack/Rodimus: "Really Fowler? Cause it felt like they are having a hard time stopping them. And without Optimus, it won't be an easy feat."

Miko, or Kaosu as she would like to call herself, decided that enough is enough and turned to the others and told them what they should do.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get out there and bang some metal heads!"

Rodimus just turned to her and told her that it was a bad idea.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, Arcee told us to stay here until they come back. We're still in training remember?"

But the Japanese Femme turned to him and told him what's happening out there.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hello! Decepticons tapping at our door! Lives are at stake!"

The agent then looked up to her and told her what's far worse.

Agent Fowler: "Yeah, your lives! You think that a bunch of recruits with no battle experience, little training, and no chance in survival can take on a group of combat equipped, highly professional, and extremely dangerous Cons?! Might as well paint targets on your chests while we're at it."

Jack/Rodimus: "Fowler's right Miko. There's no way we're going to take on Cons since we've started our training just a few days ago. We'll be turn into scrap metal!"

Miko/Kaosu: "So we just need to wait here while our friends pummeled instead. That's weak! We can't just stand here idly by while they get themselves hurt or worse. I'm sure you don't want see Arcee terminated like that."

Jack turned his head away when he heard Miko talk about Arcee. He knows that Arcee could take care of herself, but now with this invasion and the loss of their leader things have gotten complicated for her. Especially now with what's going on in the airforce base. Kaosu noticed him feeling worried for his partner and could tell that she got him where she wants him. So she decided to give him an ultimatum.

Miko/Kaosu: "Think about it. If you're Optimus, what will you do? Would he come out there and help them out, or just stay put to watch them die? What's your move?"

She then finished it with a small wink and a grin. Jack turned to her and realized that she might have a point. Optimus won't just sit back while his team was in danger. He would jump into the action and save them. Looking away, he wondered what to do.

* * *

Heading back to the action, Team Prime was dealing with MECH's new robotic soldiers and holding them off as much as they could. Smokescreen managed to recover from the blast of the fuel tank and both he and the MECH soldier were competing in hand to hand combat with a series of highs, lows, blocks, and kicks in many direction. So far, they were truly even in combat. But as they were fighting, the MECH bot Smoke took down before was slowly getting up from the attack and felt the burns on his back. He look up and saw the Elite Guard member duking it out with one of his comrades. Acting quickly, he took a page out of Smokescreen's playbook and transformed just to drive straight to him.

Smoke didn't even see him coming since he was too busy taking care of the other. He managed to take him down by grabbing his arm from the punch and did an arm drag just to take him down. With him on the floor, the Autobot armed his blaster and was about to fire at the head. But before he could do that, he heard the engines from the left and turned to see the green sports car speeding towards him. He aimed his blast to the car in hopes to take him down. But it was too late as the car made a quick drift to knock him off his feet. He got laid on his back and was cringing in pain. He looked up and noticed the two soldiers aiming their gattling blasters at him.

For Bulkhead, he had the strong advantage. With his wrecking ball servos, he was hitting the two MECH goons from left to right. The two soldiers were getting their afts kicked and was having a hard time retaliating. One of them was sent flying from the huge hit from the Wrecker's weapon and kreened on the floor. He slowly got up and shook his head from the impact, trying to figure out what to do with this bot. But when he looked up at a piece of debris in front of him, he smiled underneath his mask and knew what to do. Back to Bulkhead, he was having the time of his life as he was treating the MECH soldier as a punching bag, hitting him in any way he could. The last hit he did knocked the enemy down as he landed on the floor with a huge thud. With him down, the Wrecker turned his wrecking ball servo into a blaster and aimed it at the MECH bot.

Bulkhead: "Looks like I've won this round."

He was about to charge his blaster just to finish the enemy. Just as he was about to do that, he saw a shadow of something big from behind. Turning around, he got whacked hard by a huge metal girder that was broken off during the attack. He flew mid air and tumbled to the ground like a stone skipping on water. As he made a stop at the ground, he groaned and was out like a light.

Around the same time, Bumblebee used his blasters to try to take out the two enemy soldiers. The two took cover while firing back at him with their own blasters. Knowing that this wasn't getting them anywhere, one of the soldiers turned to the other and gesture a spin of the digit. Knowing what that meant, the other soldier nodded and prepared for the plan. The two then got out of cover and transformed into their vehicle modes, heading to the scout. Bee noticed that and continued to fire away at them, hoping to take down the tires. The two cars and a quick turn in two separate directions and drifted around him, forming doughnuts. Bee kept on firing but they were too fast for him. The two cars drifted so much that they formed smoke that surrounded the Autobot and engulfed him. Bumblebee stopped firing and slowly looked around, knowing that it was impossible to see. As he was searching, he was hit in the side of his helm. He stumbled a bit until he hit on the other side by an unknown force. What it was are the two MECH soldiers that used their drifting technique to create a huge cloud of smoke to blind him. Which means that it makes them easier to punch him. The two to them keep punching the scout like a ping-pong ball.

As the Autobot males were having trouble, the femme was having worse for wares. Arcee was taking on three robotic MECH soldiers herself and was having a hard time taking them down. With her blasters on, she fired on the three as much as she could while the others avoided the projectiles. The first soldier transformed and sped to her position. The two-wheeler saw him coming and got into position, jumping over the car and rolled over upon landing. But that's when the other soldier came in front of her with his daggers at the ready. The femme got her blades out and used them to block the strike. But with both arms up she couldn't strike back. So she used her helm and head butted him in the fuel tank. That got him out of it as he backed away and stumbled. That's where she got her opening. She charged right at him and gave two punches to his face. Then she grabbed his shoulder to perform a knee strike with her knee opening up to reveal another blade. The strike penetrated into the side of the soldier's waist area as energon spewed out of it. She quickly got behind him and did a quick karate like takedown with one leg, bringing him to the floor. She was about to finish it until the third soldier came by and used his blasters at her. Arcee turned her attention to him and began firing back. Big mistake as the enemy she took down noticed her being distracted and decided to pull one quick trick on her. With his dagger out, he targeted the femme's left thigh and sliced a gash deep enough to cut the circuitry that was keeping her leg operational. Arcee gasped in pain as she collapsed in on herself as energon was bleeding out of the wound and circuits were sticking out and sparking. She tried to get up but her left leg wouldn't respond. With her out for the moment, the second MECH soldier got up and performed a knee strike of his own, right to her helm. She fell on her back and was struggling to get up. Still it was too fruitless as her left leg is still seriously injured. She looked up and noticed the soldier she took down getting up and arming his blaster, aiming for her head. Arcee's optics were wide and realized that she was going to get terminated and there's nothing she could do. The MECH goon charged his blaster and was about to deliver the final blow until…

**Honk! Honk!**

The soldier heard a loud beeping noise coming from his right and looked up to see what it was. What he saw was a black Hummer H2 heading to him at full speed. The MECH goon reacted to it by pointing his weapon to him in an attempt to start shooting. But before he could pull the trigger, the Hummer rammed him by full force and nearly got him knocked out. Suddenly, the Hummer transformed into its bipedal mode and grabbed him by the chassis. With sheer strength, the male bot used his upper body to flung the soldier to the other end, letting him hit to a nearby jeep and knocking him out for good. The others looked at the MECH soldier and wondered what happened. Turning to the direction of the throw, they saw a bot they had never seen before. Arcee looked up at who saved her and realized it was none other then…

Arcee: "Jack?"

Indeed, it was Jack, or Rodimus. He got into a protective pose to protect his partner. Not far from him, a brownish orange Scion XB, a purple and pink flame McLaren MP4 12C, and a Volvo S60 Emergency vehicle arrived at the scene and joined the young teen. The vehicles then made a quick stop and transformed in a matter of seconds, revealing the rest of the Autobots former human friends. They all then got to their stances and were prepared for battle. Jack looked at the battle and could tell that the Autobots were in trouble. He then turned to Raf and Miko, or Firewall and Kaosu, and told him to help the others.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall, help Bumblebee with the two drones that's beating him up. Kaosu, aid Smokescreen and Bulkhead before they get themselves offline."

The two nodded and ran to the others for help. The young teen then looked down to Arcee and could tell that she's seriously hurt. He looked to her mother and gave her orders with her codename.

Jack/Rodimus: "Altra, take care of Arcee while I hold the others off."

Jack's mom turned to him nodded, heading to the femme that's been wounded. Rodimus then turned to the two MECH soldiers and was ready for battle.

Jack/Rodimus: "You have made a big mistake…"

He then armed his blasters and fired at them. The enemies then ducked down to avoid the projectiles and fired back. The former human teen ran to avoid the projectiles and continue to fire back at them. As he was taking care of the threat, June headed to Arcee and check on her.

June/Altra: "Arcee, are you all right? Can you get up?"

Arcee tried to get up but the wound is holding her down, grunting to the pain.

Arcee: "My left leg… I can't feel…"

Altra looked at the leg and noticed the wound on her left thigh that was sparking and bleeding. She bent down to take a closer look at it and could tell that it was serious due to Ratchet's medical teachings.

June/Altra: "This looks bad. The circuits that operate you leg have been severed, which is why your leg isn't moving. Just hold still while I fix that."

She then flexed her digits and began her work. As she got started, Arcee noticed something she wasn't expecting. The mother's digits opened up and multiple medical tools came out of it from wielders, cutters, soders, and pliers and started to work on the wound, connecting each wire to it's proper place and sewing them in the right copper fibers. The two-wheeler watched on in amazement and didn't know Jack's mother could do that.

Arcee: "How did you do that?"

June looked up to her and told about that.

June/Altra: "A new feature I've discovered while Ratchet was teaching me about Cybertronian medical procedures. Was a little surprised at first, but I got the hang of it. Just hold on for a few seconds while I get that leg working again."

As she was patching Arcee up, the other Autobots were having a hard time with the MECH soldiers. Bumblebee was the worse of them as he was being treated like a tennis ball while the two bots were the rackets. They've been punching him back and forth and having fun with him. The scout was wobbling a little bit until he got down on one knee and couldn't take the punishment anymore. The two knew that he was done and armed with blasters, aiming them at his helm. Just as they were charging their blasters, a cable came out of nowhere and tightened around one of the soldier's blasters. Curious, he turned to where the cable came from and noticed a smaller bot with orange armor holding on to him with an angry look.

Raf/Firewall: "Leave my friend alone!"

Almost instantly, he twisted his body and pulled the cable to his direction, pulling the MECH bot to him. The enemy flew high into the air from that throw, over the hacker, and landed on the other side of him. The other soldier saw it all go down and was about to target his blaster to him. But that caught him off guard as Bee took that opportunity to get up and punch the MECH soldier in the face for a little payback. Once the enemy was knocked down, the scout turned to Raf and never thought he would come to rescue him.

Bumblebee: **_(Thanks for the help Firewall.)_**

Raf nodded and turned to the enemy soldier that was getting up from the unexpected attack. He decided to strike now before the soldier could regain his composure. So he rushed him and performed a few boxing moves that Bumblebee taught him connecting each shot from sternum to cranium. At the same time, Bumblebee took care of the other MECH enemy with a few boxing combination of his own. The two kept fighting the soldiers for a few seconds, until they gave the final blow. Bumblebee gave out a knock out punch in the face just so he can get the soldier out cold. Then he grabbed him to the shoulders to swing him to a stack of barrels that's filled with oil. Noticing all of the barrels, the scout armed his blasters and opened fire on the stack, burning the MECH soldier to death. As for Raf, he did something different. He did a couple of punches just to knock the enemy in a loop. The MECH bot stepped back a little just to regain his composure until charging in with his blade at the ready. Firewall saw it coming and armed his tazer blaster to stun the soldier. With him temporarily immobile, the hacker then got his other arm up and launched a cable to wrap around the enemy's body. With one quick flick, he tightens the enemy's body and crushed it like a tin can. Bumblebee turned to see his friend pulled something extreme and whistled to himself.

Bumblebee: _**(That was hardcore Raf! I never thought you had it in you.)**_

Raf just turned to him and felt a little uncomfortable about that.

Raf/Firewall: "Didn't think I had it in me either Bee. I guess it was all on instinct."

At the same time, two more MECH soldiers gathered around Smokescreen and were ready to deliver the finishing blow to him. The Elite Guard member then looked at the two and decided to play a little coy.

Smokescreen: "Hey, can you do me a favor. When you try to terminate me, make sure that the first shot counts."

The two looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders for a 'whatever' gesture. So they turned back to him and were about to fire. Suddenly, and without warning, the two were pushed away from the Autobot by a high wave of sonic energy. The Elite Guard member blinked his optics and wondered what happened. Looking to his left, he saw Miko with her pulse sonic blasters on and had a sly smirk on her face. She retracted her blasters and headed to the Autobot, giving him a servo. Smoke looked up to her and grabs her hand, getting himself back up and had a shocking gesture.

Smokescreen: "Shouldn't you be waiting in the bunker until it's safe to come out?"

Miko chuckled and explained to him what she does.

Miko/Kaosu: "You know me Smokescreen. I always jump into the action. Where's Bulkhead?"

Smokescreen: "He's already preoccupied with his own problems. Over there."

The Japanese femme turned to the direction Smoke was pointing at. What she saw was her friend being pummeled to the ground by two more MECH soldiers and is on the verge to terminating him. She turned to him and had to do something.

Miko/Kaosu: "I have to go and save him. Think you can hold the others off?"

Smoke turned to the two down soldiers and then back to the recruiting Wrecker.

Smokescreen: "That won't be a problem."

Miko nodded and rushed to Bulkhead's aid. Smokescreen then turned to the two targets and positioned himself for battle.

Smokescreen: "All right, who wishes to go offline first?"

The two MECH bots were able to get up and saw the Elite Guard member ready for battle. But one soldier gesture to the other to take care of the trainee. The MECH goon nodded and transformed into his sports car mode, racing to Miko. Smokescreen saw this and had an interesting smile on his face.

Smokescreen: "Looks like it's just you and me now."

The MECH bot got his daggers out and gotten into a stance to begin the attack. The enemy then charged in and started his attack. He swing left and right to the face but the Autobot backed up slowly just to avoid the swings. He then got to the offensive himself and used his punches to hit the MECH soldier in the face followed by a kick to the sternum. He then armed his blaster and shot him in the chest plate, not powerful enough to destroy him, but enough to keep him off his feet. Retracting his blaster, he went full speed and rammed the soldier straight in the fuel tank and used his strength to push him to what appears to be a construction site for an extension of the airforce base. The soldier regained some footing and grabbed him by the waist, performing a German suplex to the Elite Guard member to the floor. Smoke felt his back getting sore and groaned from that move. The MECH bot got up on top of him and started to pummel the Autobot in the face. Smokescreen moved his helm left and right and avoided each of the punches. For the last punch, the Elite Guard member grabbed the arm with his servo and used the other to punch him in the helm. He then used his foot and pushes the soldier by the sternum with sheer force, getting the enemy off of him and accidentally tripped in a huge container near a cement truck, knocking himself out at the back of his helm. Smokescreen got up and noticed the MECH soldier lying in that container bucket and near the cement truck. Looking at the two, he had a mischievous smirk and knew what to do.

Smokescreen: "Oh yeah, this is going to be sweet…"

Meanwhile, Miko was racing to Bulkhead's side to save him. But as she was reaching him, a sports car rode in front of her and transformed into the MECH soldier. Miko stopped where she was and got into the position to fight. The soldier then got his daggers out and pulled some slick moves for her to watch. Kaosu just watch on and thought that was cute.

Miko/Kaosu: "Aw… You want to play Rock Papers Scissors huh? All right then, let's play. I'll go first."

Just as she said that, her servos turned into her gravity hammers and had a devilish smirk on her face.

Miko/Kaosu: "Rock beats scissors!"

The enemy looked at this and could tell that he was in trouble. So he had to act now before she could do something worse for him. He made a couple of attempted strikes left and right, but Miko blocked them all thanks to her sparring training the Wreckers gave her. The moment she found an opening, she used one of the hammers to hit him in the sternum, sending a pulse big enough to send him flying away from her. With the enemy out of the way, she then turned to where Bulkhead was and was shocked to see him on his back with the two MECH goons aiming their blasters at him. She was in a major panic as rage started to flow within her.

Miko/Kaosu: "NO!"

The second she said that, something unexpected happened. Two cannons came out of her shoulders and two rockets came out of it, heading to their targets. The soldiers heard them and looked up to see what it was. That's when they saw two missiles heading towards them. They had little time to avoid it as they hit them square in the spark chambers and killing them in seconds. Bulkhead looked on and was surprised by that. Miko was just as shocked as he was as she looked at both cannons that were smoking and was in awe.

Miko/Kaosu: "Whoa… So cool…"

Bulkhead got up and turned to Miko with those cannons and groaned louder then before.

Bulkhead: "Oh man… First a pair of hammers and now two cannons on the shoulders? Now I got a feminine version of Breakdown on my side."

Back to the fight, Jack was using his blasters to shoot off the remaining soldiers. The enemies just fired back and got into cover behind a few turned over jeeps. One of the soldiers managed to his weapon to the teen like mech but only grazed his arm. Rodimus cringed in pain and had to get cover of his own. He retracted his left blaster and formed an energy shield to deflect the projectiles. He had to take care of them quickly before anything bad happens to him and his partner. With his visor on, he got his auto targeting sensor on and targets the one of the right. He waiting for him to get out of cover and aimed it right to the soldier's head. That one shot took his head off and off lined him in seconds. The other soldier that got knocked down by Jack recovered from the impact and got up to see his comrade killed from the Autobot. He rejoined the other soldier and gesture him for close combat. The MECH bot nodded as he retracted his blaster and the two got their daggers out. Jack saw this and decided to do the same as he retracted his right blaster to form his broad sword. The two soldiers charged in and started their attack, swinging their daggers left and right. Rodimus was using his skills to block the attacks with his shield while using his sword to block the rest of the strikes, though he was able to get through with it, he's still having a hard time trying to take on two enemies.

As he was busy fighting the two soldiers, June was patching Arcee's wound on her left thigh. So far, she managed to connect the wires together and placed them in their proper place while preventing more energon from leaking out. She then used one of her wielding digits to seal the wound up.

June/Altra: "We're almost finished. Just need to seal the cut."

Arcee smiled as was glad that the nurse could help out anyway she can. What she didn't know is that the MECH soldier that Miko took out landed close to them and was dizzy from the impact. The moment he regained his composure, he saw the two femmes and decided to take the opportunity in annihilating them. He got his dagger out and approached Altra with sheer cockiness. But the two-wheeler saw him coming and warned the nurse.

Arcee: "Altra, behind you!"

June turned behind and saw the MECH soldier ready to strike on her. She immediately freaked out and extended her arm to him, changing it into her blaster and charged it to full power. She wasn't expecting that big of the blast could hit him in the chest plate and through the spark chamber, killing him in seconds. Altra looked on and couldn't believe that she did that. Arcee saw it as well and was amazed by this.

Arcee: "Nice shot Altra. You could've made a great soldier."

June turned to her and took a quick breather.

June/Altra: "Thanks Arcee, but I would prefer helping people then killing them. Now hang on for a sec."

She got back to welding the wound and closed it up completely. Once she's finished with it, fingers returned to normal and pleased with what she did.

June/Altra: "There, all done. You can get up now."

The two-wheeler nodded and slowly got up. She found out that she can move her left leg and it was moving freely like normal. She smiled and was glad that she can stand again.

June/Altra: "So how are you feeling?"

Arcee turned to Jack's mother and responded.

Arcee: "I feel better, much better thanks to you."

June nodded and smiled at her accomplishments. But that was short lived as they heard sounds of metal clashing; they immediately turned to see Jack holding off two MECH soldiers on his own and using his sword and shield to defend for himself. Knowing that he needed some help, Arcee turned to the nurse to ask something.

Arcee: "You think I can fight with my patched up wound?"

June turned to her and nodded.

June/Altra: "I think so, but you have to be careful."

The two-wheeler nodded with a smile and opened her blades in response.

Arcee: "Then I'll be careful."

Heading back to Jack, he was protecting himself from the two soldiers attacks and was using his sword and shield to deflect on the attempted strikes. He managed to strike back with his sword as he put a few cuts on their armor, but not enough. He then used his shield to protect himself from the kick that pushed him to the other end. The other soldier then transformed and raced to the former teenage soldier, transforming back and using a slam on the fist to paralyze him. Jack took a quick breather and was exhausted from the last hit. The soldier then got his blade out and ready to deliver the final blow. Before he could even to that, Arcee came out of nowhere and used her blade arm to take him down. He was a little off for a moment as Arcee got up and offered a hand to Jack.

Arcee: "Did you even follow what I was teaching you partner?"

Jack looked up and saw Arcee a little aggravated at his attacking methods. He then grabbed her servo to get up and explained himself.

Jack/Rodimus: "What do you expect me to do? They have me outnumbered!"

Arcee just sighed and shook her head, explaining to him about war.

Arcee: "Listen to me Rodimus. No matter what happens you're always outnumbered. You just need to learn how to survive it."

They had this little moment together until they heard the sound of metal moving. Turning to that direction, they saw the soldier Arcee took out getting back up while the other one joined him with their daggers at the ready. Both partners looked at each other and decided that they have to finish this.

Arcee: "Follow my lead Rodimus!"

Rodimus nodded as the two ran for the MECH bots. The two enemies then charged up their blasters and prepared to fire. Arcee used her quick moves and parry and skip from side to side just to avoid the projectiles while Jack got his energy shield up to deflect all of that firepower. As the femme reached the first soldier, she did something incredible. She jumped up landed on the soldier's shoulders with her feet. She then launched off of it and flew in the air, somersaulting midway through and coming down with her blades extending out while heading to the second soldier that was behind the first. The MECH goon saw this and got his blades out, ready to take her down. Arcee then used her blades to make a straight away shot in the middle with the enemy used both daggers to stop them. Sparks started to fly as he was pushed back from the hit. He then stopped midway looked on to see the two-wheeler heading towards him with her blades set to strike. The soldier then positioned his daggers and the two were duking it out in knife like combat, hitting each other with their blades and letting sparks fly around.

Meanwhile, Jack saw her pull that off and was amazed at how skilled she is. But he had to take care of some serious business as he had the soldier Arcee jumped off of. He got his sword out and shield at the ready as the two began their own combat. The MECH soldier tried to get some precise striking on the recruit's chassis but he used this shield to block those attacks. He then used his energy shield as a weapon just to hit the bad bot in the side of the head and knocked him out for a brief second. This gave him an opening as he held his sword high in the air and strikes it down on the soldier. But the enemy felt that on instinct and lifted his dagger up to block the strike. He then used his free arm and elbow him trainee to the fuel tank like stomach. Jack cringed from the pain as the soldier was about to make use of the blade to pierce him to his head. Jack immediately side stepped and missed the blade just inches to the side of his head. The two then went back to the fighting as they clashed blades with each other, striking and missing each other's attacks one way or another.

Back to Arcee, she was going one on one with the MECH bot as the two fought each other with their weapons. From highs to lows, kicks, and punches, they were evenly matched. The femme did a high roundhouse kick to his head as he blocked it off. He then gave a few strikes with his blades a swingin' while Cee used her blade arms to hold them off, with her metal chipping bit by bit. On the last swing though, the two-wheeler got the pattern down in her processor and ducked down from it. It was there that she rolled over to his side and used her blade to cut his own thigh to disable his leg like he did with her. The soldier screamed and got down on one knee feeling a little defenseless. Arcee got up and looked right back to her target and smirked.

Arcee: "As the old saying goes, turn about is fair play."

The soldier was able to turn back to her and had an angry look underneath his metallic mask. He armed both of his blasters and opened fire on her. Her reaction is to flip backwards a couple of times to dodge each blaster fire. As she was flipping, she has to wait for the right moment to fire back. Once she was at the right distance, she jumped off with servos and in slow motion changed them into her blasters, charging them up and firing two shots in mid air with precise aim. The blue energy projectiles flew straight to him and hit him hard in his chest, penetrating his spark chamber and shutting him down permanently. She landed on the ground with her blasters sticking out to her sides and looked up with a sly smile, feeling she accomplished what she did.

As for Jack, he was having a hard time trying to hold off the last of the MECH soldiers. Both he and the enemy kept swinging with their sword and dagger clashing into each other. No matter how many times they tried, they were still holding their ground. The soldier and the recruit had their blades stuck together as they were using their strength to prove who is better. But the metal soldier was baiting him as he gave him a head butt to the head. Rodimus staggered back and was defenseless for a second, giving the soldier plenty of time to hit him with his rear arm. That was when the trainee fell to the ground and laid on the floor, retracting his sword into his arm and trying to get up. The soldier then slowly approached him and had him where he wants him. With one dagger out, he pushed back and was about to pierce him through the back. Unfortunately for him, Jack's survival instincts kicked in and got his leg up to deliver a forceful pushing kick. The enemy stepped back a bit to regain his footing, but that gave the recruit the opening he needed to push himself back up and punched the MECH bot in the face. The soldier staggered a little more and couldn't take this punishment anymore. He decided to finish it now by going for Rodimus's head. Jack though knew this was coming and crouched down and gave him a really hard punch to the enemy in the chest. The soldier was about to retaliate but Rodimus wasn't down yet as he did the unthinkable. He extracted his sword with his punched hand and pierced the soldier through the spark chamber. The MECH soldier screamed out in complete pain until his optics were shut off and his life essence cease to exist. The second Jack extracted the sword; the dead bot collapsed and was lifeless as a rock. Jack looked down as his servos with his visor opening up and was shocked to know that he already killed a bot.

Jack/Rodimus: "Whoa…"

The moment he said that, he heard a voice from a distance.

Miko/Kaosu: "That was sick Rodimus! Was able to take of photo of that into my memory banks. You certainly know how to rock!"

Jack looked up and saw the rest of Team Prime heading towards him with the recruits next to them. He just turned to Miko and told her that it wasn't what he was expecting.

Jack/Rodimus: "Easy for you to say. This is the first time I killed a Con. I never really thought it would be that gruesome."

The others looked on and decided to help him out on that.

Miko/Kaosu: "Dude, you're not the only one that did a first kill. We took out Cons on our own too. And I got to admit that was really fun."

Jack/Rodimus: "Hey, you were the one that force me into helping our friends. I knew this was a stupid idea from the start."

Arcee: "You're slagging right that was a stupid idea Rodimus!"

They all turned their heads to see Arcee heading towards them with a sour and very angry look on her face.

Arcee: "Disregarding orders just to save us was both reckless and suicidal! You four should know better then that!"

All four recruits lowered their heads and felt a little guilty about what they did. Arcee then realized that even though they disobeyed orders, they were a big help in the fight and saved their lives. And if it hadn't been for them, they would've been scrapped by now. So she lightens the mood and decided to congratulate them on a job well down.

Arcee: "Thanks for the help anyways. You all did a good job."

That cheered the recruits up a bit and was glad that she and the others were grateful for their help. Just as they were pleased by what she said, everyone heard the voice of Fowler himself surveying the damage.

Agent Fowler: "Sweet Liberty! Look at this mess! It looks like a tornado blew in here."

The team turned to the left and saw the former Army Ranger heading towards him surveying the damage while General Tilson was behind him. He too was looking over the damage from the MECH soldiers and was upset about this as the next person.

General Tilson: "Tell me about it. Haven't seen something like this since the riots in Syria. And that was a war zone let me tell ya."

He then turned to team Prime and the trainees and wasn't happy about it at all.

General Tilson: "And all of you should've known better then to get involved. Now I appreciate all of you rescuing us and this base, but you've broke a direct order from General Bryce! He's going to have your heads when he hears of this."

Arcee looked down to the general and had a deep glare.

Arcee: "Though I would like to talk to Bryce about our actions, we have bigger problems to worry about. And maybe if you didn't notice, but these bots that attacked your airforce base along with the previous ones aren't Dececpticons."

That got the former humans, the general, and the agent's attention when they turned to the femme and were shocked by the news.

Agent Fowler: "What? What do you mean by that."

Arcee: "Take a good look at them Agent Fowler. You notice anything different about them?"

The rookies and the humans looked at each of the robotic soldier and noticed how different they are.

June/Altra: "Come to think of it, your right Arcee. Their armor is green instead of purple."

Raf/Firewall: "Yeah, and their optics were green instead of red."

Miko/Kaosu: "Not to mention they didn't have any Decepticon insignia on them."

Jack could agree with his friends and mother and wondered why they are different. He turned to his partner and asked her about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Exactly where are you going with this Arcee?"

Arcee turned to his partner and told them what she thinks they are.

Arcee: "These are no Cons we faced many times. These are bots created by MECH."

That got them all in a state of shock with the exception of the Team Prime.

General Tilson: "MECH? I heard of those guys. A bunch of terrorists that are interesting in high tech gizmos. So this is their work? Never thought they would go that far in creating their own robotic soldiers. How were they managing to do that?"

That's when Fowler stepped in and told Tilson what the Autobots told him after seeing the former human companions like newborn Autobots themselves.

Agent Fowler: "It has to do with the Director's work."

Tilson turned to the agent and asked about that.

General Tilson: "The Director?"

Agent Fowler: "Formerly known as Leonard Church, chairman of Church Enterprise, he's the head of MECH's science division. Like Silas, he was interested in creating robotic soldiers. But when Silas's was creating one that is just machine, the Director wanted to do a much more extreme approach."

Tilson raised an eyebrow and was confused by Fowler's words.

General Tilson: "Extreme?"

That's when the team joined in and explains what they learned.

Arcee: "The Director created something called Project Metamorphosis. From what we can put together his project involves turning normal humans into Cybertronian soldiers. He wanted to create some soldier's in a step-by-step procedure. First by converting the human body into energon, our own lifeblood."

Smokescreen: "Which he then used the second step to alter the humans genetic code into that of a Cybertronian along with weapons schematics and gadgetries."

Bulkhead: "And when that was done, he would bring the altered energon back to life with billions of volts of electricity. The end result…"

It was then that Miko decided to figure out what they really are and finished what Bulkhead was saying.

Miko/Kaosu: "They have created MECHicons!"

The two-wheeler turned to the Wrecker cadet and was a little confused by the name.

Arcee: "MECHicons?"

Kaosu turned to her and gave a deeper description.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah. They're half MECH, half Decepticons. Hence MECHicons."

Arcee raised a metal eyebrow and finds that to be pretty interesting.

Arcee: "I see… MECHicons. I like the sound of that."

But General Tilson heard everything they said and didn't like any of it at all.

General Tilson: "So what you're saying is that not only that we have to deal with Decepticons that will exterminate all of the human race, but also these MECHicons bent on world domination? Just as our survival couldn't get any worse."

Fowler nodded and could understand what he meant by that.

Agent Fowler: "You have a really good point Tilson. If this small group can do this, imagine what a huge army would do to the rest of the country."

Arcee: "Then if that's the case, then we must do something about it."

Rodimus asked Arcee about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "And what are you going to do?"

She turned to her partner and told him what they're going to do.

Arcee: "We hit MECH right were it hurts. We head to their base where they're making more of their MECHicons and throw a wrench in the whole thing."

Tilson looked towards the femme and gave her the bad news scenario.

General Tilson: "Though I like the plan, I don't think it's a good one. MECH base and this project they have could be anywhere in the U.S. No way we are going to find it."

But Fowler interrupted him and told him that's not the case.

Agent Fowler: "Not necessarily… See what happened with the Nemisis Prime incident is that one of the MECH facilities were driving distance between the attacks with me and the base Silas wreaked havoc on. This also means that the Director did the same."

Arcee looked down to the agent finished his theory.

Arcee: "And with the attacks that happened in the bases in both North and South Dakota, then that means that the Director's new facility isn't that far. We have to find it and fast before the Director gets suspicious on why this unit hadn't returned."

The general looked around the area and sighed to himself.

General Tilson: "Well it's too bad you destroyed these tin cans or we would've been able to gain some information about where their base is."

But Smokescreen knew what he was saying and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Both bots, and humans turned to the Elite Guard member letting them know what he did.

Smokescreen: "Actually, we do have someone that can give us answers."

* * *

Back in the unknown location, MECH was working around the clock with the Director's project on full steam. Within Project Metamorphosis scientists were turning soldiers into mechanized warriors with humans converting to green energon cubes, altering their genes, and shocking them to life. In the security command center, human soldiers were at their stations looking at the facility and communicating to other soldiers for recent activities. In one of the stations, Tucker was laying back watching super model pictures on the net. He was starring at their bodies and couldn't help but to drool over them.

Tucker: "Oh man, look at the shapely body. I wish you were real so I can touch that skin. Can imagine what it would be like rocking your world…"

He continued to enjoy this little show and thought that he would relax. What he didn't know was that some entered the command center and approached the chief of security. Yet Tucker had no clue he was coming until he heard a booming voice.

Commander Rourke: "Security chief officer Tucker! Report!"

The chief officer panicked and closed off the windows of the model pictures, getting back to watching the security monitors.

Tucker: "Uh, commander! I didn't know you would be coming. How are things with you?"

The commander shook his head and sighed to himself.

Commander Rourke: "You know what, I'm getting sick of you wasting your time looking at women on MECH's networking system. If I see you looking at those girls one more time then it will be the last thing you will see. Understand?"

Tucker blinked his eyes behind his goggles and gulped knowing what he meant.

Tucker: "Don't worry sir; it won't happen again."

Rourke lowered his brow and decided to head back on track.

Commander Rourke: "So what's the status of our facility? How are we on the Director's project?"

Tucker then turned to the monitors and explained to the commander what's been going on.

Tucker: "Well everything as quiet as a mouse. As far as the project goes it's all going smoothly as possible. Don't see any problems on the machine stats on it. All and all, everything is normal."

Commander Rourke: "And what about the group assigned to dispose of the airforce base. What's their report?"

Tucker remained silent and didn't know what to say.

Tucker: "Uh yeah… About that…"

He turned to another soldier in charge of security as well and asked him.

Tucker: "Vic? Can you tell him about what happened?"

The one called Vic turned to him and asked about that.

Vic: "And why would I want to do that Tucker dude?"

Tucker: "Because you're the one in charge of looking over the groups while I handle the inside work."

Vic: "You mean all those pretty little ladies you keep gawking about? Oh yeah that's some great work you're doing. Maybe you should let me share on that Intel. We should work great together. Wink…"

Tucker: "Hey! I told you already, that's private stuff. You don't have to get involve in my business."

Vic: "C'mon dude, what makes you think I've been giving you the tissues and lotion for those pictures. It's not for you having for the cold and moistening your hands if you know what you mean."

Tucker: "Okay, that's it! Don't make me come over there!"

Vic: "Bring it on you sick perv!"

The two continued on bickering to each other until the commander broke it up.

Commander Rourke: "All right, that's enough from the two of you! Vic, tell me about our group. Have they completed their task yet?"

Vic decided to keep the whole thing quiet and turned to the Rourke to give him the details.

Vic: "All right, here's what went down Commander dude. The groups contacted the base ten minutes ago that were near the airforce base and was about to destroy it. But like I said that was ten minutos ago. Now I don't hear anything from then since. Don't know why but I think their comm. systems must've gone off the fritz or something."

The commander rubbed his chin and thought about what one of the security soldiers said.

Commander Rourke: "Why haven't they contacted us back? They should've destroyed the Milton base by now. What are they doing out there?"

That's when Tucker came in and interrupted the Commander, slouching back and saying something perverted.

Tucker: "Maybe they finished with their assignment and are celebrating by jacking off."

Mostly everyone stopped what they're doing and slowly turned to the chief a security, feeling a little disturbed by what he said. Tucker looked at everyone and could tell that there was a lot of silence all around them.

Tucker: "What? That's what robots do when they're done with their missions, right?"

Rourke gave with an agonizing sigh and approached him, removing the comm. headset he was using and putting it on his head, wanting to respond to the group."

Commander Rourke: "Why we hire these morons I have no idea."

* * *

Meanwhile at the Milton Airforce base, the team starred in disbelief as what Smokescreen had done. Arcee was the first to speak up and was in much of a surprise as the others.

Arcee: "I can't believe what you just did Smokescreen."

What they were looking at was the last MECHicon with most of his body submerged in quick dry cement, with his legs, arms, and head exposed. Smokescreen was next to him with his arms crossed and was pleased with what he did.

Arcee: "You decided to leave this one not only alive, but completely humiliated. Didn't you learned your lesson after those pranks you pulled with Jack."

Smoke turned to her and gave a quirky smile.

Smokescreen: "Well it worked didn't it? Plus Tilson here did say that we needed one alive to give us the location of MECH's new facility. So I think what I did saved you all time and resources."

Miko then got close to the MECH enemy and used her photo optics to take a picture of this embarrassing moment into her memory banks.

Miko/Kaosu: "Smokescreen, you certainly are one clever bot. You are so going to assist me in some pranks."

Tilson just ignored one of the recruits and approached the hostile soldier struggling to get out.

General Tilson: "Well at least we now have a prisoner to interrogate. Though I don't know how we should question it."

Agent Fowler then went next to him and told him what they can do.

Agent Fowler: "We have a couple of facilities across the states that can hold him for question along with some techniques that can make him crack. Give it a few days and maybe we might get an answer from him."

The general turned to him and didn't like that plan.

General Tilson: "A few days isn't what we have Fowler. It would be a matter of time before then send another group here to finish the job. We need to get a straight answer from him and we need it now!"

Arcee heard the two and decided that since she handles some interrogations herself, stepped in and headed to the trapped soldier.

Arcee: "Let me handle this."

As she approached the enemy soldier, she started the questioning.

Arcee: "Start talking you Con wannabe. Where the Director is hiding you guys and his little experiment?"

But the MECHicon turned to the femme and didn't was to speak to her.

MECHicon 1: "Sorry, but I'm not going to spill the beans to the likes of you, you metallic bitch!"

The two-wheeler didn't take too kindly to that intimidation as she had a threat of her own.

Arcee: "Tell us something we need to know right now. I'm not playing around!"

Jack decided to come in and decided to play good cop for Arcee's bad cop.

Jack/Rodimus: "You better start telling her something pal. My partner here has a lot of anger issues in her system and she has a tendency in letting it all out."

Arcee looked back to Rodimus and was a little amazed at how cool he is in this questioning. She then turned back to give the soldier the _'I'm going to kill you'_ look. Still the MECHicon kept his cool and responded with the calmest expression yet.

MECHicon 1: "Try all you like Little Miss Issues, I will never give you the location of the Director's new facility and that's that."

Arcee knew he would say that and decided to go on to plan B.

Arcee: "Then it looks like we're going to do this the hard way."

She then armed her blasters and aimed it to his helm, charging it up for a one shot kill. But before she could take this to the extremes, she heard a beeping sound from the soldier's helmet along with the blinking light on the left side. She took a closer look at it and wondered what it was.

Arcee: "What is that?"

The MECH bot noticed that the base was contacting him and was now a little worried.

MECHicon 1: "It's none of your business. Now get away from that!"

Jack took a closer look at it too and realized what it is.

Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like someone is trying to communicating with you. Mostly likely the base wondering what's taking you so long. You better start responding."

The femme decided back her friend away and told him not to say that.

Arcee: "That won't be a good idea Rodimus. The moment he contacts the Director, he's going to tell him what happened and send in reinforcements. We need to do this without getting trouble to us and perhaps get the location of the facility. But how is the question."

Just as she said that, she heard Raf's voice in the distance.

Raf/Firewall: "I think I can help."

The two turned to the hacker and was a little skeptic.

Arcee: "You Firewall?"

He nodded and explained why.

Raf/Firewall: "My cables are very useful for hacking into any system whether it be of human or alien remember? If I can use my cables to connect to the comm. frequency, I can transfer the radio waves from one bot to another for eavesdropping. I might even use myself as a conduit to trace the call to its exact origin."

Everyone looked at each other and was intrigued by Firewall's theory. But Arcee was a little concerned about this and asked him one thing.

Arcee: "And you think that will work?"

Raf/Firewall: "It's a bit of a risk, but I think I can do it."

The two-wheeler nodded and knew that this was now or never.

Arcee: "Then let's do it."

Raf nodded, knowing that she wants to be the person on the other end. Approaching the two, he focused as his top compartments of his arms opened up and the cables extended to both sides. The first cable to his left connected to the MECHicon's helmet as wires dove into his comm. systems. The cable on his right side went to Arcee's helm and let it's wires go into her comm. channel. It felt weird for her at first, but it wasn't anything compared to Shockwave's cortical psychic patch that hurt like slag. Jack stood by and watched his partner becoming a guinea pig for some experiment Raf is conducting and felt a little unsure about this. But Arcee turned to him and gestured that everything will be okay. Once Raf got everything in place, he turned to the femme and told her to start.

Raf/Firewall: "Okay, I think I got everything at the ready. See if the connection is through."

Arcee nodded and placed her digits to her helm, turning on her comm. link. At first, she got nothing but static, but the moment it got clear she heard the voice of Commander Rourke trying to get in contact with the soldiers.

Commander Rourke: _"Alpha Squad report. This is Commander Rourke contacting Alpha Squad. Do you read me? Have you accomplished your assignment? Please respond."_

Arcee smiled and was pleased that Raf's idea worked. She turned to him and gestured to him to trace to call. Firewall nodded and looked at his visor, displaying the image to the world map while pinpointing the call, zooming in to its location. As he was doing that, Arcee decided to contact the commander as best she could.

Arcee: "I'm sorry, but the people you are trying to reach has failed on their mission."

She waited for a response from the commander until she got one.

Commander Rourke: _"Who are you? This is a private line. Identify yourself!"_

There was a hint of a smile as Arcee talked back.

Arcee: "I think you already know who I am. After all, my team and I did all that redecorating in that correctional facility in Tennessee."

* * *

In MECH's new facility, Rourke overheard those words and realized who this person is, or to be more precise, the bot.

Commander Rourke: "The Autobots…"

He then turned to Tucker and gesture to him to initiate the terminate command. Tucker nodded and got to work initiating the command while Rourke started to talk with the two-wheeler.

Commander Rourke: "So the Autobots heard the news of what happened and came to rescue. How poetic…"

Arcee: _"Actually we were just visiting the neighborhood. We've seen the Director's new toys by the way. There not Cons, but they were pretty good fighters nonetheless. Shame we sort have broke them."_

Commander Rourke: "Those soldiers were testing their new bodies out in the field. You should've known better then to get involved in their training."

Arcee: _"Training that involves attacking military bases? You guys have certainly dove into a whole new low."_

Commander Rourke: "Sometimes training requires sacrifice. What not a few innocent lives for a ground breaking achievement such as our own robotic soldiers?"

Tucker turned to the commander and gave him the thumbs up from the termination protocol. Rourke gestured him to wait for his signal.

* * *

Back in the airforce base, Arcee had that ugly look on her face and didn't like the sound of it.

Arcee: "You are depraved…"

Commander Rourke: _"On the contrary. What we're doing is for the future of MECH. You of all bots should know our cause by now."_

Arcee: "I know your cause and it's making me sick to my fuel tank. Just deliver a message to your Director. Tell him that we will find his base and destroy the very project that created those soldiers."

Commander Rourke: _"Do you actually think you can do that young lady? Well I'll have you know that what you've encountered was a small group. We've got a small army protecting this facility inside and out. You will never stop the Director's plan no matter what. Here, let me give you a strong example of what happens to those that get involve in our work."_

The second Raf got the location of MECH's base of operations, a warning appeared on his visor. He opened it to see what the warning is and realized that the MECHicon was about to self-destruct. He turned to the femme and told her what he discovered.

Raf/Firewall: "Uh Arcee? We have a problem."

Arcee looked at the MECH soldier and noticed that his eyes were blinking green. Realizing what's going to happen, he ordered Firewall to get his cable off of the enemy.

Arcee: "Disconnect!"

The hacker nodded and immediately removed his cable from the soldier's helmet. The second he did that, the MECHicon had a serious seizure as an electrical current pulse in and out of his body. He was like that for a few seconds until he stopped and his optics were off, meaning that he was offline. The others stood back and were caught off guard by what happened. But when the soldier died, they all took a closer look and was surprised of what happened.

Bumblebee: _**(Well, that was unexpected…)**_

Bulkhead: "You can say that again Bee. Looks like MECH had a fail-safe incase one of their own get captured. Clever scrapers…"

* * *

Back at the MECH's facility, a screen showed a message that said, _'Soldier 00256: Terminated'_. Rourke smirked and could tell that terminated soldier was the one that opened the comm. so he had to pull a drastic step in ending it. But what he's more worried about is that if the Autobots had a way in finding their new facility. He doesn't want to take that risk as he turned to the security chief and told him what to do.

Commander Rourke: "I want this entire facility under high alert, code orange. Have every soldier and bot at their stations in and out and all defenses in full operation. If the Autobots were at that base then that means that why will find ours. Make it quick!"

Tucker nodded as he started with the code orange protocol.

* * *

Back to Team Prime, they looked at the dead MECHicon smoldering in smoke and burnt cement. Fowler approached the dead soldier and investigated the body, shaking his head from this unexpected event.

Agent Fowler: "An electrocuted death. And it would seam that it was enough electric volts to extinguish his spark. Got to hand it to the Director, he always have a tendency in covering his tracks."

Arcee: "Tell me about it. A few more nano clicks and Firewall and I would've joined him. I just hope that we got the location of MECH's new facility. Firewall, you had any luck?"

Raf turned to the two-wheeler and gave a small smile for an answer.

Raf/Firewall: "You could say that. I was able to pinpoint the location of MECH's new base and it's somewhere around the North and South Dakota areas. Judging by the length of the transmission and the bases MECH targeted, it looks like the closest location of their facility is in… Dam."

The others listened to him and wondered what he was talking about.

Miko/Kaosu: "Damn? What, you mean you lost the location?"

The hacker turned to his friend and explained it thoroughly.

Raf/Firewall: "I meant dam as in a water dam. Apparently the call came from a damn between the North and South Dakota border along the Missouri River. That could explain the attacks at those Military bases within the North and South Dakota areas. What's strange about this is that the base is actually not that far from here, about ten miles or so."

Tilson listened to this recruit and grasped at what he was saying.

General Tilson: "Wait… You're not talking about the Garrison Dam are you?"

The others looked down at the general and were a little confused with his question.

Arcee: "Garrison Damn? What is that?"

The general turned to the femme and explained things to her.

General Tilson: "Only the fifth largest earthen dam in the world that's near the town of Garrison. Operated in 1953, it uses hydropower turbines to power several hundred thousand customers from Garrison, Riverdale, and Pick City."

Smokescreen: "But why would MECH be interested in a dam that runs on hydropower?"

Jack thought of the same thing Smokescreen was thinking about until he came up with a good answer.

Jack/Rodimus: "For an alternate power source."

The team turned to the trainee as he explained what he could put together.

Jack/Rodimus: "Remember what happened at that Saddy Correctional Facility in Tennessee? That first test they've done caused a temporary blackout for miles on end. It's because the power source they've used doesn't have enough restraints with the power levels. So they would need a different power source continue with their work. And what better place to get a different power source then with the Missouri River."

The team listened to his theory and realized that he has a point.

Bulkhead: "Hey you're right Rodimus. The Director wanted a different power source to continue with his experiment."

Smokescreen: "Yeah, and after what happened at the last facility he needed one that can give him long lasting power. This hydropower you've talked about must've been his ticket."

Tilson rubbed his chin and remembered about that news that happened recently.

General Tilson: "Now that you say that, I've been getting reports about temporary blackout within those towns near the Garrison Dam. They say they were quick and temporarily, but this kept going for the past few days. At first I thought that these were only minor incidents, but after hearing that I do believe it's much worse then I thought."

Arcee nodded and pounds her fist together with her servo.

Arcee: "Then if that's the case, we have our mission. Now that we know where the Director is, we'll had to his facility and hit it where it hurts."

The got Miko overly excited, as she was ready for the real battle.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well what are we waiting for guys? Let's get in there and throw a wrench in MECH's creation!"

But Arcee stopped her again before the Wrecker recruit does something too drastic.

Arcee: "No Kaosu! You and the other recruits are returning to base. Team Prime is heading to MECH's base to stop them."

The Japanese femme turned to her and was upset about that.

Miko/Kaosu: "Again!? Seriously?! We save you guys from those MECHicon clankers. We should help you out on stopping MECH."

Arcee: "No, you don't get it Kaosu! You just took on a small group. We're talking about a huge army! I'm not going to let four recruits get killed for a little thrill. You're going back to base and that's that!"

She then activated her comm. and contacted Ratchet.

Arcee: "Ratchet, this is Arcee."

Ratchet: _"I hear you Arcee. Is everything all right out there? I've got damage readouts on your life signals before."_

Arcee just smiled and responded to that.

Arcee: "Nothing's the matter Ratch. We were able to prevent MECH from attacking the base in Milton. Listen; what we need is a bridge for the recruits. The rest of us are going MECH hunting."

There was a bit of silence until the Autobot's medic spoke up.

Ratchet: _"Understood. Bridging to your coordinates right now."_

The moment he said that, a green portal appeared next to them and lit the way. Arcee then turned to the recruits and told them to leave.

Arcee: "The four of you will head back to base and remain there until we come back, no exceptions. Now go!"

The first three nodded and knew that what the team's going to do is incredibly dangerous, but Miko grunted to herself, hating staying in the base while they go through the dangers. Soon enough Kaosu, Firewall, and Altra entered the bridge as Jack stayed behind and decided to wish her luck.

Jack/Rodimus: "Good luck out there Arcee. And when you see the Director, do me a favor and pummel him to mush."

The femme starred at him and gave a warm smile.

Arcee: "Not to worry Rodimus, I'll tear him a new one for you."

She then turned to the others and told them to ride.

Arcee: "All right Autobots, let's head to the dam and tear it apart. Transform and roll out!"

They then immediately ran and jump, transforming and riding to the exit of the airforce base. Jack just watch as they left and felt a little worried if they will accomplish this task. But he told himself that Arcee will be all right and entered the ground bridge, letting it disappear after he went through it.

* * *

In MECH's newest facility at the Garrison Dam, the soldiers of both humans and bots were on high alert since the Commander gave the order. Rourke himself was walking down the huge hall heading to the Director's office, not knowing what his reaction will be. Approaching the door, he sighed and made a slight tap to it. That's when he heard the Director's voice responding.

Director: "Come in…"

The door automatically opened as the Commander got in. Upon entering, he notices that the head scientist wasn't at his desk. Instead he was at his training area practicing his fencing while listening to an old symphony song being played on an old phonograph. The Director was wearing a fencing uniform as he used his sword on a dummy in front of him. The Commander looked on and wondered if he's ready to say it or not. That's when the Director responded without even looking.

Director: "Yes commander, what is it you want to speak about?"

Rourke just turned his head away and took a deep breath, turning back and explaining the situation.

Commander Rourke: "Forgive the interruption sir, but we have a problem. Alpha Squad was suppose to destroy the Milton Airforce base but failed. They were all destroyed."

Director: "The military?"

Commander Rourke: "No sir… It was the Autobots."

Church remained silent and still to let that sink in, then went back to practice.

Director: "Hmm… I see… How did they know of this?"

Commander Rourke: "We have no idea sir. They just came to the base around the time the attack happened and disposed of them quickly. Maybe their skills far surpassed our own."

Director: "Or… They had help."

The commander perked up and didn't know what to say next.

Commander Rourke: "Help sir?"

Director: "It's obvious that the first test subjects we used to create the perfect soldiers aided them in their time of need and assisted in dismantling that group. Those four civilians are more experienced then we think. So now what?"

The Commander cleared his through and explained the rest.

Commander Rourke: "Well there is a chance that they would find our location soon enough. I've already taken the liberty in upgrading our security and have all of my men on stand by. Once they see any of the Autobots, they will be destroyed on the spot."

Director: "That won't be necessary commander. If the Autobots find our base of operations, I want you to take them in alive."

Rourke blinked his eyes and couldn't believe what he heard.

Commander Rourke: "Take them alive sir. But that would be impossible. They've managed to take down a small group of our men and they need to be dealt with strictly. Why in the world would you want to leave them alive?"

The moment he asked that question, the Director thrusted his sword and to the dummy and impaled him in the chest for the finishing blow. Wiping the brow on his forehead, he approached a small table that had a bottle of wine and a glass that's already filled. He then started to explain what he's going to do as he picked his glass up to spin it.

Director: "I'm a scientist commander and as such I need to understand the various technologies that are offered to me. The Autobots have the necessary information I need to put my master plan in motion. I just need to find out what they have. Have all soldiers of both kinds be on alert, but give them stun blasters to temporarily shock our enemies. Have a lab set up with the essential equipment to gather information. Oh and while you at it, bring me Private Jenkins into my office."

He took a drink of his wine while the Commander rubbed the back of his head.

Commander Rourke: "The sole survivor of Silas's betrayal? Why would you need him?"

He set his drink down and answered Rourke's question.

Director: "I need to work on a new class of robotisised soldiers to give our enemies a run for their money. I'm certain his skills would be perfect for that."

The commander nodded and was about to leave. But before he does, he turned back to the head scientist and asked one more thing.

Commander Rourke: "Is there anything else you want me to do."

The Director took another sip of his wine and wondered what else the commander would do. Placing the glass back down, he turned and said something else to him.

Director: "As a matter of fact there is. Take a look at the tablet on my desk."

Rourke looked down and the tablet on Church's desk and approached it. The moment he picked it up, and turned it on to see something on the screen. His eyes grew wide and realized what he was seeing. He looked up to the Director in a state of shock.

Commander Rourke: "Is this what I think it is?"

The Director nodded and went on.

Director: "Yes commander. That's a recorded video that took place in the correctional facility in Tennessee. One of the cameras captured that the moment the security system went on and it was clear as day."

The commander looked back at the tablet and couldn't believe this at all."

Commander Rourke: "I don't understand this. He was loyal in creating the project. Surely he wouldn't do anything to deceive MECH."

Director: "He was the one that was concerned about our test subject's fate and felt guilty for his sins commander. It's obvious that he wanted to clean his slate before the blood spilled on his hands. Now that it's clear of what he'd done, he now has to pay the price. Perhaps a little motivation is in order don't you agree?"

Rourke nodded as he put the tablet back down to the desk.

Commander Rourke: "Should I give the order sir?"

Director: "No commander, the order has already been given."

On the desk, the tablet showed the video feed of the Autobots in the recovery room, and on the controls was the very person that helped them, Professor Issac Sumdac.

* * *

**Yep, that's right folks, the Director found out about Sumdac. So it's obvious what he's going to do to keep the professor in line. Oh and by the way, I wanted to add the Director being a fencer because I wanted him to get involve in the action as well. Not with the Autobots mind you but with the humans. But I won't spoil who yet since this is still early on what would happen, but you'll be surprised as to who. Stay tune to see the next chapter as the Autobot's try to get into the MECH's base and the Director pulling out all the stops. Please Review.**


	12. Infiltration

**Well, got this chapter at the ready. This one a little shorter then the last since it's not too action based and doesn't give too much wording. This will be the same in the next chapter until I get to the serious action on a couple more. Trust me when I say this, you'll be in for a major surprise. Now to the review/hit news on the last chapter. Still pretty good with 13 reviews with more guest reviews on the way and almost eight hundred hits. Not bad for a chapter like that. Still, there are those that are trying to ask me questions. One of which wants to know when Optimus or the Decepticons will make an appearance. Well this is the first episode Megalo and you will get your answer in the second episode. So be patient with me. Another reader, that only said Hello cause he's a guest reader asked me if I can start the second episode right away. To answer that question I say I don't think that will work. See if I do the second episode while I'm doing the first, it will spoil the reading magic. I have to do my season three arc just like what the Hub is doing with theirs. Trust me, the last thing I want is to ruin the episode arc and spoil plots that would occur in this episode. So please let me finish this one so I can get started on the other one. Let's head to chapter twelve of my own version of TFP season three. The Autobots headed to MECH's new base of operations at the Garrison Dam in an attempt to destroy Project Metamorphosis. But as they try to stop the Director's motive, there will be complications that will change the course of this mission.**

**Chapter Notes**

**Now Sari is going to make an official appearance in this chapter with the exception of the one she had in a couple of chapters ago. Plus, I'm going to add another character from the Transformers universe into my third season. I bet you can't guess who it is. Let's just say it's someone from the movieverse that would fit perfectly for this season as well as a plot I'm going to put together in a future episode. I'm also adding two more characters from the Red vs. Blue universe into my own Easter eggs. Not going to say who but I'll give you a little hint. One likes the color lightish red and the other is somewhat special. I sure you'll guess their names before I get to them.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Infiltration

_To the Board of Directors of MECH,_

_I want to inform you that Project Metamorphosis is coming along smoothly. As requested by you, I had found the reliable power source for my experiment. The hydropower form the Garrison Dam had proven to be the most reliable power supply to date and with all the water in the Missouri River, it will be enough to create a big enough army to command._

_I would like to make a request of my own while we're on the subject. You told me before to speak to you if I needed extra test subjects. I would like to ask in using the sole survivor from the attack caused by the former general Silas. I want to use him for a new type of soldier for our enemies. Something that would strike fear to even those Decepticons._

_Though my project has proven successful, there appears to be a slight snag in the works. You see, one of my associates, Professor Issac Sumdac, was involved in the Autobots rescuing my creations and helping them escape. I've already sent a video feed from one of the security cameras in my precious facility for the proof. Don't know why he did that, but I do believe he had some form of sympathy to these mechanical beings and felt sorry for what he had done. But whatever the case, what he did cost me my first test subjects and my old facility. Rest assure, I've already taken the liberty and decided giving the professor a little incentive. Once my men get my delivery, he will know his place in my work._

_Sincerely,  
The Head of MECH's Science Division,  
The Director_

* * *

It was a mid afternoon day in Detroit, Michigan as the school day was almost finished. In Charter High School, every student was sitting in history class waiting for the bell to ring while their teacher, Mr. Roland, was at his main desk getting the next student to start talking about a certain family member's history.

Mr. Roland: "All right Ms. Sumdac, whenever you're ready."

The student, Sari Sumdac, turned to the teacher and nodded. Looking back her classmates, she cleared her throat and said whatever she needed to say on the piece of paper she held in her hands.

Sari Sumdac: "My family history report is about my dad, Professor Issac Sumdac. Born in 1965, he was interested in robots since he was a kid, watching all those science fiction movies. At age eight, he built his first prototype robot, a small toy bot if you will, that is operated by a remote control skeletal suit in my father's childhood size. This first creation gave him a first place ribbon in the science fair. By the time he turned sixteen, he created a robotic dog that follow his every word through voice command. This got the attention of some big time marketers and wanted to give him some job opportunities. But my father declined and wanted to seek out his own career and no one else's. When he got into Harvard to study robotics engineering, he met up with his close friend Porter C. Powell. They were both roommates in campus as Powell was taking a financing course. He was quite fascinated at all the robotic projects and asked my dad if he needed a partner to help with the financing business. When the two graduated for their honors, they set up a small business together called Sumdac Robotics. My dad put together a small variety of robots to help people with the hard work like cleaning windows outside, painting, and waitering while Powell handles all the investments. For the next couple of years, their shop started to expand into an industrial empire as they hired employees, set up factories, and created stocks for dad's company. In fact, he was so good at his work that the Nobel Committee gave my dad the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in robotics engineering. Soon enough dads' company changed from Sumdac Robotics to Sumdac Industries and became the global empire that it is today. Thank you."

As she finished with her report, the teacher clapped a little until he started to thank her on her work.

Mr. Roland: "Thank you Ms. Sumdac. That was very interesting. Does anyone have any questions?"

One student raised his hand and asked his question.

Student 1: "Yes, well what happened to your dad anyways? What is he doing right now?"

Sari rubbed the back of her head and tried to explain it.

Sari: "Well… It's hard to tell actually. See my dad is currently working on some kind of side project for a client of his. What I have no idea. But from what I can tell, it could be a secret robot experiment. And if that's the case, I think it would be very cool!"

As soon as she answered that question and there were no other questions left, she headed back to her desk and took a seat. Roland then looked at the clock and could tell that there's still time left, knowing that there could another student that wants to talk about their family history.

Mr. Roland: "All right, I think we have time for one more student. Now let's see who wants to come up. How about you Mr. Witwicky?"

Another student, whose name of Sam Witwicky, got up and approached the front carrying his book bag. Sam was an average kid at the age of sixteen that isn't a muscle buff or a geek. He was more of a social outcast in front of everyone. Well everyone but Sari since the two of them live on the same street. He was wearing a Strokes T-Shirt, faded blue jeans, Converse sneakers, and had short brown hair. As he got to the front, he turned to the teacher and asked him to move.

Sam Witwicky: "Thank you Mr. Roland. Can you please move, I got some stuff to put for my presentation?"

Mr. Roland nodded and scooted away while Sam got to the front. Sam then opened up his book bag and spilled the contents on the desk. What the other students saw was old explorer equipment from maps, compass, a long telescope, what appeared to be some damage glasses. Once everything was in place, Sam looked up to the class and started his report.

Sam Witwicky: "Okay… Sorry if I got a lot of stuff. So for my family history report, I decided to do it on my great grandfather Captain Archibald Witwicky. Who is a very famous explorer in his time mind you. In fact he was one of the first to explore the Arctic Circle. Which is a big deal by the way."

He then picked a map up from the desk and showed the students the map of the Artic Circle and continued with his lecture.

Sam Witwicky: "In 1897, he took forty-one brave sailors straight into the Arctic shell. They encountered many dangers and surpassed many obstacles just to reach the middle of the Artic Circle. No matter what dangers they've encountered, my great grandfather said those courageous words. No sacrifice, no victory. And for those of you who don't know what that means, then yes those are words of wisdom right there."

There was a laugh with some of the students as Sam put the map away and showed off the stuff on his desk.

Sam Witwicky: "As you can see, these items here, use to belong to my great grandfather. These are maps and charts that help him in his journey. His personal diary of his journeys, which I read most of for my report. This is his telescope he used to see if there dangers around. His compass to help him see where he's going. Of course, it's all pretty much the same thing other explorers back in the day use. But this, this is kinda cool."

He then picked up one more item off the desk and showed it to the students. What they saw was a pair of old glasses that looked cracked and scratched in the strangest of ways. He then started to explain what they are.

Sam Witwicky: "These are my great, great grandfather's glasses. They are one of a kind. He held on to them for a long time. I bet these glasses had seen many cool things. He even said once that these glasses are a map itself. Don't know what he meant by that, but I probably guess that he meant that his glasses show the world or something."

It was then that another student raised his hand for a question and Sam notices it.

Sam Witwicky: "Uh yes, we have a question in the audience." That student lowered his hand and asked him a question.

Student 2: "As much as I love the whole show and tell thing, but there's one thing that's bothering me. You said that your great grandfather Archibald Witwicky is a great explorer in his time and he took part to traveling the Artic Circle. Did he exactly reach the middle of the Arctic Circle?"

Sam blinked his eyes and tried to answer it as much as he could.

Sam Witwicky: "Not entirely… Let me explain."

He then picked up a couple of papers showing off some strange symbols and an old newspaper clipping with the headline _'Archibald Witwicky, Deemed Clinically Insane'_. He started to explain what he meant by not exactly.

Sam Witwicky: "See, my great, great grandfather, though a genius as was, went blind and crazy in an asylum after his long and tiring journey. Drawing these strange symbols in some of his journal entries and babbling on about some metal icemen he discovered during his journey. He keeps on warning everyone that something was coming, something big. Don't know about you but I say that he was seeing things. Some genius he turned about to be huh?"

There were some chuckles from the student bodies but there were a few whispers from others. Sari overheard a two of them talking to each other quietly.

Student 3: "Hey, that metal icemen he's talking about is related to those robots that attacked that small town in Nevada a few weeks ago?"

Student 4: "Don't know, but the metal part sounds familiar. You think that Archibald guy was warning us?"

Student 3: "I think so. If what that loon said is true, then we are in big trouble."

Sari overheard the two and decided to shut them up.

Sari: "Knock it off you two. I'm trying to listen to this."

The two students turned to her and threatened her.

Student 4: "And what are you going to do about it? Have your dad fire our dads?"

The two laughed it up as the Sari was getting a little annoyed. Mr. Roland noticed this and told the two to pipe down.

Mr. Roland: "Hey! That's enough from the two of you. If I hear one more word from either of you, you'll be spending detention for the weekend! Is that clear?"

The two students looked at the teacher nervously and nodded in unison. Before things could get really heated up, the school bell starts ringing meaning that class is officially over. The teacher looked up and sighed to himself knowing that school is over.

Mr. Roland: "Well now, wouldn't you look at the time. Class is dismissed boys and girls. We will continue with your reports on your family history tomorrow. Don't forget, after what happened to Jasper, Nevada a few weeks ago a curfew has been enforced. You are to return to your homes a 6:00 P.M. at the earliest. No exceptions!"

All the students in the class got out of their seats and left the classroom while Sam was packing all of the items he dumped earlier. With him as the last one in class, he left the room and get ready for a long afternoon. As he passed the doorframe, Sari was waiting next to the door.

Sari: "Nice job on your homework Sam. You're great grandfather's stuff you showed off was a nice touch."

Sam looked at her and smiled about it.

Sam Witwicky: "Thanks Sari. Had to ask my father to borrow some of this stuff from the attic. You can imagine how hard it was to get my great grandfather's glasses? Like your report by the way. Though you would've gotten some visual aids to enhance your presentation like what I did."

The Sumdac daughter tilted her head and responds to that remark.

Sari: "C'mon now Sam. Why would I want to put some visual aids when my dad is always all over the news? That's one way to present yourself."

The two laughed it up as they walk down the hall where the other students are ready to leave. Just then Sam has a really good idea and talked to Sari about it.

Sam Witwicky: "So Sari, I was wondering that maybe you and I can go out sometime and hang out? We can just, I don't know, go to the movies or grab a bite to eat. The sky's the limit with twenty bucks and some gift cards."

Sari turned to him and figured out what he's up to.

Sari: "Sam Witwicky, you not trying to ask me out on a date, are you?"

Sam blinked a little and tried to rephrase that.

Sam Witwicky: "What? No! That's not what I said. What I was trying to say is that we should hang out as friends always hang out."

The girl raised an eyebrow and had a quirky grin on her face.

Sari: "Uh-huh… Well even if we want to hang out, I don't know if my dad would appreciate it. I'll call him up, if he's not too busy with his little side project."

Sam nodded, as he and Sari were about to leave the school. Just then, his cell phone started to ring as he took it out of his pocket. Looking at the screen, he notices a text message that was sent to him just now. Opening the message he read it and it said…

_'Sam,_

_Your mother and I are taking Mojo to the vet. He accidentally swallowed one of those medication pills and loosing his mind. We won't come back until late night. Be home by six. Food is in the microwave. Lock the door when you're alone. Remember Sam; no sacrifice, no victory._

_With love,_  
_Your pops'_

Sam sighed to himself and knew this was bad.

Sam Witwicky: "Great… Mojo went to the medicine cabinet again… How he get to there I have no idea."

Sari turned to him and wondered about his worry.

Sari: "Something wrong?"

Sam turned to her and responded back.

Sam Witwicky: "Mom and Dad is taking our dog Mojo to the veterinarian cause he swallowed another medicine pill. They won't be back until late tonight. I was hoping dad would pick me up from school today. Oh well… Might as well take the bus back if the transit system isn't too busy with the 3-5 P.M. rush."

Sari thought this through and came up with an idea, turning to him for a quick favor.

Sari: "Hey, our houses are on the same street. I can take you to your place if you want."

Sam looked to her and was a little unsure.

Sam Witwicky: "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean I don't want to be a burden to you."

Sari: "Not at all. I don't have anything to do for today and my dad isn't at the house either. I have all the time in the world."

Sam starred right at her eyes and smiled, knowing that they were going out somewhat.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Sari was driving down the streets of Detroit on her bright yellow Vespa and heading to the neighborhood they both live. The drive was a nice and peaceful trip with the exception of the strong military presence within the city due to the Decepticon attack in Jasper. Sam was holding on to her in the back with his arms hugging her waist as he was trying his best not to let go. For Sam, It was kind of strange for him since it's a guy that offers the woman a ride on his bike, not the other way around. But at least he has the chance to spend time together with her. As they were on their way to their houses, they noticed a roadblock of some kind closing off the road. Sari made a quick stop and didn't expect this to happen.

Sari: "Hey! What's the big deal?"

There was a police officer that just headed to the two and explained the situation.

Police Officer 2: "Sorry mam, but the road is closed do to a containment leak. Toxic oil is spilled across the road and is very poisonous. We have a cleanup crew taking care of this mess, but it will take a while for it to be contained. Sorry for this, but this place is sealed off until further notice."

Sari sighed to herself and didn't expect this coming.

Sari: "Well that's just perfect."

Sam overheard it too and wondered what to do now.

Sam Witwicky: "Now what are we going to do?"

She thought about it for a moment until she came up with an idea.

Sari: "There's an alley way not far from here. That will make a great shortcut."

She quickly made a U-turn and backtracked, heading to the alley she spotted. As they were leaving, the officer looked at them suspiciously and had a small smirk on his face. He turned on his comm. on his ear and contacted someone.

Police Officer 2: "The target has taken the bait. She's heading your way. Stand by for an extraction."

* * *

Minutes later, Sari drove her Vespa to the alley and made a quick turn into it. In the alley, it was dark and narrow as clothes were hanging above them and dumpsters were gatherered together. There were a few homeless people around as the Vespa drove slowly. Sam looked at the scene and was a little nervous.

Sam Witwicky: "You're sure this is a good idea taking this shortcut?"

Sari looked back and told him that everything it going to be okay.

Sari: 'Don't get too worked up about it. We're almost out. See? The light at the end of the tunnel."

Sam looked yonder and could see the end of the alleyway that goes to the next street. They were about to leave the alley when all of a sudden a dark green van came out of nowhere and blocked their way out. Sari gasped in surprise as she put the breaks on her Vespa, careening and turning to a stop. That unexpected halt caused her moped fall to its side, taking the two with them as they roll around the ground. Once they all made a stop, Sari sat up and rubbed the back of her head, feeling the pain.

Sari: "Ow…"

She then looked up and noticed the van still blocking them, as she got a little angry over it.

Sari: "What do you think you're doing?! Are you insane?! Move that van out of the way right now!"

The second she said that, the van door opened up and out popped a few solider pointing their weapons right at them. Sari panicked and didn't expect this coming at all. One of them pointed to the girl and told them takes her.

MECH Soldier 17: "That's her men! Zap her!"

One of the soldiers targeted Sari and fired a prod at her shoulder. Upon contact, it sent a surge of electricity throughout her body, screaming in pain and collapsing on the ground in an unconscious state. The moment that happened, Sam slowly got up from the fall and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. By the time he looked up, he saw a group of unknown men in masks and goggles taking the young teen girl into the van. Scared for her life, he stood up and threatened them.

Sam Witwicky: "Hey! Leave her alone!"

The other soldiers looked at him and laughed it up. But Sam was no fool and followed his great grandfather's word 'No sacrifice, no victory', he rushed to them and shoved them out of the way. One of the soldiers knocked him down to prevent him from rescuing the girl. Sam immediately got up and decided to take it to the offensive by picking up a piece of 2 by 4 and held it tight like a baseball bat, continuing to threaten them.

Sam Witwicky: "Let her go right now or face my fury!"

Before Sam could strike, he got shot in the back as electrical surge spread throughout his body. He screamed in agony before he passed out on the ground. From behind, another MECH soldier dressed as the very police officer approached the group and looked down at the boy. The soldier that took out Sari approached the undercover operative and asked about Sam.

MECH Soldier 17: "So what do we do with this one?"

The undercover operative looked down at the Witwicky kid and came to a decision.

Police Officer 2: "We take him as well. We could use a little collateral damage."

The soldier nodded and took Sam in as well. With the two students in the van, the group closed the door and starts the van, driving it to a nearby airstrip where a helicopter was waiting for them to leave.

* * *

As the kidnapping took place, something bigger was happening at the Garrison Dam. Around the dam surface a large group of soldiers were keeping watch as a group of green sports cars, which were MECHicons in disguise, were patrolling the roads. Not only that, but there were tanks and anti aircraft missiles guarding the entrance way so that no enemy can break through as well as a few choppers hovering in the sky. Away from the patrolling units, Team Prime was at a nearby hill surveying the dam. Bumblebee and Smokescreen kept a good optic on the place, seeing the situation they're in. Arcee looked at the two and asked about it.

Arcee: "Well guys, what's the situation?"

The scout turned to her and explained the problem to her.

Bumblebee: _**(In a word, not good.)**_

The Elite guard the joined in on the conversation.

Smokescreen: "I agree with Bee here. This place is a whole lot worse then the correctional facility in Tennessee. We got soldiers and cars, possibly those MECHicons the Director created, patrolling around the dam, enemy air support, and heavy artillery at the entrance. My guess is that after what we did with their last base, they are pulling all the stops to prevent us from getting into this one."

The femme groaned to herself and didn't like those odds.

Arcee: "That's just terrific… The Director learned from our previous encounter. And with the lack of ordinance we have, there's no way we're going force ourselves in there."

Bulkhead looked at the view and could agree with her.

Bulkhead: "So, no go on a full frontal assault. Got it. So how are we going to get through that?"

Arcee thought this through and wondered how they are going to get in there without raising an alarm. Looking on, she noticed the Missouri River that's next to the dam. She knows that the water in that river is what's giving it its hydro power and helping with MECH's project. But then, an idea popped into her processor and asked the others a question.

Arcee: "Hey guys, how deep is the Missouri River?"

The others looked at her with confused expressions as the Wrecker took a quick guess.

Bulkhead: "Don't know… Judging how much water that dam needs I say deep enough for a bot to dive in. Why did you ask that question?"

The two-wheeler turned to him and had a sly smile on her face.

Arcee: "Oh, I was thinking about going for a swim."

The team blinked their optics until they realized what the femme was going to do. They then smiled and decided to follow her plan.

* * *

Back in the new facility, the Director was at the medical bay meeting up with Private Jenkins on his hospital bed, the MECH soldier that survived Silas's onslaught. He held to a clipboard in his hands while he talked to the private about what happened to him.

Director: "Now I can imagine how rough it is for you to loose all your men in the hands of Silas. But think of this for a second. You are the only survivor that survived that ordeal and you should be grateful that you've succumbed to that type of terror. It's quite a shame that you lost your comrades and you've been seriously wounded. Heard from the doctors that you won't be able to get back to duty any time soon. That's where I'm going to give you an offer you will never forget."

Jenkins looked at the head scientist and asked what it is.

Private Jenkins: "And what offer are you tending to give me?"

Director: "Why as chance to redeem yourself of course. You want to get back to helping MECH achieve greatness, yes? Well my project has become quite a success as of late and we now have robotic soldiers for MECH's vision. However these are just one class of soldiers. I need another type of soldier that is a heavy hitter. You Private Jenkins will be the first to take part of my new class of soldiers."

Private Jenkins: "Why pick me? I'm not much as a heavy hitter as you say."

Director: "Haven't you look at your credentials private? You spent five years in piloting choppers and an expert in the most advance of weaponries. You strike fearlessly without hesitation and never loose to anyone in a firefight. You are as tough as they come. Ashame the injuries have put you on the bench for an undisclosed period of time. But once you take part in my project, not only will you be fully healed, but also reborn as a new being. All you need to do is sign this contract and we'll begin as soon as possible."

Jenkins looked at the contract and was concerned about this. He had seen these MECH bots for the past couple of days and were quite interesting to be one. But he wondered how the others feel like leaving their families and lives just to be part of an experiment to turn them into cybernetic soldiers. As he was thinking about it, the Director looked on and could tell he's hesitant. So he pushed him through this.

Director: "Come on private, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do you want to fight again for be stuck in that bed for a long period of time?"

The private looked on at the contract and could tell that he wanted him to do something history making. With no other thought, he grabbed the clipboard and pen and signed up the contract. Handing the clipboard back, the Director looked at the contract and smiled to himself.

Director: "Excellent… We shall begin with the procedure as soon as we can."

The private smiled and asked for a request.

Private Jenkins: "Thank you sir. But if I may, I would like to have myself a codename to help strike fear to the enemy."

Church turned to Jenkins and wondered what he wants.

Director: "All right then… What would you like to be called?"

Jenkins smirked and told the Director his code name.

Private Jenkins: "Blackout. The terror in the sky."

* * *

Back outside the dam, everyone was still patrolling the area looking for anything that's the military or the Autobots. What they didn't know was that Team Prime was there, but not where they would be expecting. At the bottom of the Missouri River, small groups of fish were swimming about without a care in the world. But as they were swimming, a large metallic foot of Bulkhead slammed on the ground, causing the fish to scatter like crazy. It was Team Prime that were walking at the bottom of the river, slowly reaching the dam. Since MECH has defenses that the bots won't go through, they have to find another way in. When Arcee saw the Missouri River, she came up with a good idea in entering the base without the enemy noticing. And if one thing a Cybertronian can survive is that going through space and sea without breathing. As they were walking, Arcee looked on at the murky water to find the Morrison Dam.

Arcee: "Okay… The dam has to be close by."

Bulkhead: "It better be Arcee. I am starting to feel rust in my undercarriage."

Arcee rolled her optics around and snickered over Bulk's words. As they were walking, they notice a huge wall of cement and were getting closer each step they took. Upon reaching the wall, Arcee looked up and nodded at where they were.

Arcee: "There it is. Morrison Dam. Now to find a way in."

Smokescreen's idea was to arm his blaster and charged it up.

Smokescreen: "We could just blast our way in."

The femme placed her servo on his blaster and lowered it, telling him that that's not a good idea.

Arcee: "No, Tilson said that this dam powers a few towns nearby. We try to blow it up, those towns will have a serious blackout in their servos and the military will blame us. Trust me, we're not getting popular for all the good we did."

Smokescreen nodded and retracted his blaster.

Smokescreen: "So blasting in. Scratch that. Still, we need to find a way in."

As they were talking Bumblebee looked around and wondered how they would get in as well. After a little scouting he noticed something close to them. He pointed to it and told the others about it.

Bumblebee: _**(Hey guys? I think I found our way in.)**_

The others turned to the scout and wondered what he meant. Heading towards his position, they noticed what appears to be a huge spillway to let water in with a metal door that opens and close in a heartbeat. Arcee looked at the huge pipe and smiled to herself.

Arcee: "Looks that way Bumblebee. Now all we need is a little brute strength to keep it open. Bulkhead."

The wrecker looked at the spillway opening and closing quickly and knew what she wants.

Bulkhead: "I got this one."

He approached the spillway entrance and both servos and his foot to keep the metal doors opened with his sheer strength. Once the doors were fully opened, the rest of Team Prime got in the spillway and followed the pipe to the inside of the dam with Bulkhead stepping behind and letting go of the moving metal door.

* * *

Inside the water storage area, a small group of MECH soldiers were on patrol keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Two of the soldiers, whose names are Donut and Caboose, were standing guard with their backs to the pool of water. As they were keeping watch, Donut had a really good idea.

Donut: "Hey Caboose, don't you think that maybe that this place needs a little redecorating?"

Caboose's response to that is a stupidest gesture.

Caboose: "What do you mean Private Biscuit? You're not thinking of making a mess?"

Donut: "No Caboose, I was thinking about sprucing the place up, making it a little more cheerful. Just look around you, this facility the Director set up is a little too bland, nothing too pleasant. What this place needs is a little fung shway! Get some plants together, some waterfalls, bamboo, wind chimes, you know, make it feel so peaceful and beautiful."

Caboose: "I don't know if that's a good idea Sergeant Cupcake."

Donut turned to him and was argued back, unaware that something was bubbling out of the pool behind them.

Donut: "What do you mean it's not a good idea? I think it's perfect! Remember when I decorated Commander Rourke's office?"

Caboose: "You painted his room pink and put posters of boy bands and kittens on the wall."

Donut: "So? I thought it looks nice. Gives a little felinity into the room. I think the Commander liked it."

Caboose: "He was using you as a moving target in the shooting gallery after what happened to his quarters. I don't think he appreciate what you did for him."

Donut: "Oh come now, I think I did him a favor. Besides, the commander needs to learn to mellow out. Can't be too serious all the time."

As the conversation was going on, something was slowly rising from the water and near the two. Caboose heard the sound of splashing and slowly turned to see what it was. Donut on the other hand, just paid no mind and went back to talking about the Commander's tone.

Donut: "I mean when you think about it, Rourke is always so uptight. I never even seen him smile, not once!"

Caboose: "Uh Donut?"

Donut: "I bet he lost his happiness when he was born or some kind of deformity that makes him too serious."

Caboose: "Donut?"

Donut: "I swear, I don't think there's anything that would keep him happy, not even from a certain prat fall."

Caboose: "DONUT!"

Donut turned to him and responded loudly.

Donut: "WHAT!?"

Caboose: "Um… Should we stop with the talking and start with the running? As in, the really fast running?"

Donut was confused at what he said until he turned to where he was looking. What he saw shocked him as he and the other soldiers saw the Autobots coming out of the pool of water. Donut was as surprised about this more then the others and a shaking a little.

Donut: "I think I'm going to freak out right now…"

* * *

Back in the security room, everyone was keeping watch on the entire facility. The one called Vic thought that there's nothing to report so he decided to play a little Galaga. As he was playing it, a window popped up on a breach in their security. Curious, he clicked on it and noticed that one of the water storage areas was under attack by Team Prime. All of the soldiers were getting knocked out by the team as Donut was running around like a complete lunatic.

Donut: _"I'm freaking out! I'M FREAKING OUT!"_

Vic looked on and didn't like what he sees.

Vic: "Whoa… That's not good dude."

He then turned on the comm. channel and contacted Commander Rourke to give him the news. After a couple of rings he heard the commanders voice booming through his headset.

Commander Rourke: _"What is it?"_

Vic took a quick breather and told him what happened.

Vic: "Yeah Commander dude, remember when you told us to keep watch of the Autobots incase they break into the base? Well, we have a small problem."

* * *

Back in water storage, the Autobots cleared the area as all the human soldiers were taken out easily. They retracted their blasters and took a breather.

Smokescreen: "Is it me, or are these MECH soldiers getting a little soft?"

Arcee looked on and agreed with the Elite Guard member.

Arcee: "It's just you Smoke. The humans must've been a small watch group. Not much of a threat. But there's no telling what we're up against when we venture through the facility. Stay sharp."

Everyone nodded as they head to the exit, preparing themselves for what's up ahead. As they were leaving, both Donut and Caboose were in a semi conscious state and were mumbling to themselves.

Caboose: "That was embarrassing…"

Donut: "I didn't sign up for this…

* * *

In the large hallway, the doors opened up as both Smokescreen and Bumblebee came out of it and had their blasters armed on both sides. Once everything was clear, Bee gestured to move in as Cee and Bulk entered the hall. Bulkhead then asked the femme about what to do next.

Bulkhead: "Okay, we made into the facility. Now what?"

Arcee turned to the Wrecker and explained her plan.

Arcee: "We head towards the command center. If I can guess, I say they have a map that shows the entire place. Which means that they would have the location of the Director's twisted work. We find that, we head to that project and blow it up. It's that simple. Now come on, any nano click we wait we'll get the Director's attention and send trouble our way."

With that, the team walked down the hall and were looking for the command center of the facility. So far, all they could get is the signs leading to different parts of the base and arrows going to different directions. Once they saw the signs that said, _'Command'_, they followed them to the exact location. Of course, they encountered some trouble with MECH soldiers of both the human and bot variety. But they got through it with a few stunned shots of the soldiers and quick takedowns and drags for the MECHicons, making sure that they don't raise too much attention. This lasted for ten minutes until they were getting close to the command center. They were walking silently down the hall as both the scout and the Elite Guard member were at the lead with their blasters at the ready. They then stop at a cross junction and hid behind two big pillars at the end. The two waited for the right moment until Bee nodded and they got out of the pillars with their blasters pointing in many directions. Once they know that they were in the clear, they then quietly ran straight where the command center should be as Arcee and Bulkhead soon followed. Arcee looked to her right said and saw another _'Command'_ sign on the wall with an arrow going straight and right. She smiled and let the other's know that they're close.

Arcee: "We're just about there. We just need to walk a little more."

Bulkhead: "I hope you're right about this one Arcee. The longer we stay here, the more suspicious MECH will be."

The team headed down the hall and approached a T-Junction with a sign that told them to go right. Bee and Smoke got their backs to the wall as the Elite Guard member decided to peer ahead to see if there was any danger. With a quick peek, his optics grew a little wide and went back to cover, turning to Arcee for some bad news.

Smokescreen: "Well, we found the command center. But we've encountered a little snag."

The Two-Wheeler tilted her head and wondered what he meant by that.

Arcee: "So what's the problem?"

Smokescreen's response was to point a digit out of the corner and telling her.

Smokescreen: "You might want to see this for yourself."

Cee just sighed disgustedly and decided to see what he meant by it. Approaching the corner, she too took a look and noticed what Smoke saw. The huge doors to the command center were there, but guarding them were two MECHicons surveying the halls. The femme got back into hiding and cussed to herself.

Arcee: "Scrap… Looks like we got ourselves a couple of guards watching command. This isn't going to be easy."

Bulkhead: "So what's the plan now? I mean it's not like we casually walk in there and ask to go inside.

Smokescreen thought this one through and wondered about it himself. He then looked up at the ceiling and saw a sprinkler above him. That's when he got himself an idea that would help them. He smiled to himself and let the others know about it.

Smokescreen: "I think I have an idea. You better cover your audio receptors though."

The others looked at him strangely and wondered what he's up to. As he approached the sprinkler, the others decided to follow his advice and covered their receptors for what's going to come. Going over the sprinkler, he activated his laser cannon and charged it up. He didn't fire though because he has something else in mind. He placed his blaster high and close to the sprinkler itself. In a matter of seconds, alarms started to blare as the sprinkler burst out water along with the others. The Autobots held their audio receptors from the loud sounds as water drenched them. Meanwhile, the two MECHicons heard that too as they were completely wet.

MECHicon 2: "What the hell is going on?!"

MECHicon 3: "Sounds like a fire broke out in this sector. We should vacate!"

The two MECH bots immediately left their post, leaving the command center unguarded. The team watched them leave and couldn't believe that worked.

Bulkhead: "No way… I can't believe they actually fell for that."

Arcee turned to the Elite Guard member and was curious as to how he did that.

Arcee: "How did you know they would be tricked by that Smokescreen?"

Smoke just smirked and told them what he learned.

Smokescreen: "Remember when the kids watch their little TV at the Omega One? Well I caught Miko watching a show about high school pranks and there was one part were a group of human younglings lit a fire over one of the sprinklers and doused the entire school. I think she was taking notes on pranking her school. Looking at that sprinkler, I figured that it would be a perfect opportunity to try it out. And wouldn't you know it, it worked flawlessly."

The two-wheeler gave him an odd look and finds his method to be a little bit childish. But she sighed in defeat knowing that it worked no matter what.

Arcee: "Remind to keep you away from any screen that involves how to prank you friends. Now let's go."

The team then left their hiding area and approached the doors to the command center while the alarms stopped and the water was shut off. As the group approached the door, they were a little impressed by it. Bumblebee was the first to witness as he whistled with his whirls.

Bumblebee: _**(That's some door…)**_

Arcee: "Indeed it is Bee. Titanium armor plating, pressurized seal proof locks, ten feet thick, and heat resistant metal. All this is used to prevent a flood from reaching any important sectors. What a piece of work. No matter how much explosives we use, it won't budge."

But Bulkhead smiled and come up with a plan of his own.

Bulkhead: "Then let's see if a multi tons of fists can take it down!"

He got his wrecking balls at the ready and pounded them, preparing to knock the door down. But before he could do that, Smokescreen talked him out of it.

Smokescreen: "Uh, Bulk?"

The Wrecker turned to him and responded.

Bulkhead: "What?"

The Elite Guard member pointed to a screen panel that's the height of a human with the words _'Open Door'_ on it and smiled.

Smokescreen: "They have a button you know."

Bulk blinked a few times until he retracted his weapons, rubbing the back of his helm.

Bulkhead: "Right, I knew that."

Smoke just got a chuckle out of it as he clicked the small screen with his big digit. The gears within the door started to turn as it slowly slid open to reveal the main command center. It was a huge room with many monitors and consoles for human purposes. Normally they were used to check the dam's pressure readouts and electrical currents. But since MECH moved in, they tinkered into the mainframe and turned it into a their own operations with MECH logos on a couple of screens, a big screen that shows a digital map of the facility, another screen that shows a map of the U.S., and a few more that involves simple data streams and reports. But the strangest thing is that no MECH personal was present within command, bot or human. They all looked on and find that to be quite strange.

Bulkhead: "Well this is the place, but it looks like no ones home. Where did everyone go?"

Smokescreen: "Maybe they are all on what humans would call a coffee break."

Arcee: "And leave the command center unattended? No, this whole thing smells of a trap. Stay alert…"

She turned her servo into a blaster and pointed it to see if there were any surprises. The others soon followed suit and remain at their guard with their blasters set to stun. Looking around they decided to split up to see the two huge screens that were in the command center. Both Bumblebee and Bulkhead looked at the map of America while Arcee and Smokescreen checked out the map of the facility. Looking on, the femme checked out the map to see where the Director is keeping the project that turned the Autobot's human friends into Cybertronians. After looking through the map, she noticed something and pointed to it.

Arcee: "There! That's where Project Metamorphosis is located."

Smokescreen looked at where Arcee was pointing at and noticed a floor that was beneath them. It appears a small room with titles such as _'Training'_, _'Medical'_, and _'Recovery'_. But on that floor is a wide room marked, _'Metamorphosis'_ that was close to the other three. He rubbed his chin and could tell what it means.

Smokescreen: "You're right about that Arcee. Looks like that project is one floor beneath us. We have to find a way to get there and fast."

Arcee: "There's a huge elevator shaft within the turbine area not far from here. We take that, we smash that project to pieces."

As they were looking at the map, Bulk and Bee was looking at another map and was concerned about it. So they told the others what they saw.

Bumblebee: _**(Guys, I think you should see this.)**_

The two looked at the scout and Wrecker and was concerned about what they saw. The two then approached them and asked away.

Arcee: "What is it you two?"

Bulk turned to them and told them to look at the screen.

Bulkhead: "Take a look at this. This is the map of the United States and it showed the places MECH destroyed."

The two-wheeler looked at the map and saw a couple of marks on both North and South Dakota. There were a couple of green lights marking them as missions completed. The one on the red marked a mission failure, preferably from the Milton Airforce base the Autobots protected. Arcee looked at this map and finds it to be a bit curious.

Arcee: "Interesting, this looks like map of MECH's sheer accomplishments. And look, those targets are the attacks they've caused in those military complexes. Got to hand it to the Director, he likes to boost his own achievements."

Bulk nodded and knew that the moment he saw it. But he saw something else that got him feel suspicious and pointed to another target.

Bulkhead: "There's more to this then we think Arcee. Looks at the target they're thinking of striking."

Curious Arcee looked at the spot Bulkhead was pointing to and discovered a yellow stand by light in the Nevada area. Even worse, the place they would be attacking has a title that says _'Jasper'_. She blinked at realized what MECH is planning.

Arcee: "That's strange… Says here that the Director is planning an attack in Jasper, Nevada."

Smokescreen looked at that target as well and was surprised as everyone else.

Smokescreen: "Jasper? But the Decepticons have taken over that town when the invasion started. Why would the Director be interested in a place that's already under Con control?"

Arcee: "Don't know Smokescreen, but it looks like there's more to MECH then meets the eye. It would seem that the Director has something more to the table then creating Cybertronian soldiers of their own. This is a much deeper situation then we think. I better contact Ratchet and tell him what we found."

She turned on her comm. and spoke to Ratchet, not realizing that someone was coming in the room.

Arcee: "Ratchet, this is Arcee. We seem to have a situation here. We're in MECH's new facility in Garrison Dam and are about to destroy the Director's project. But we made a startling discovery that can change the war in both factions. It turns out that the Director is going to attack Jas-"

But before she could say that, something hit her in the back and sent an electrical pulse coursing through her body. She screamed in complete anguish as the other saw her in complete pain.

Smokescreen: "Arcee!"

But before they could help her out, they too got hit in the back and electricity spread all over their bodies as well. They all yelped in pain until the collapsed on the floor and went into complete stasis. On their backs were electrical prods that can shut down and electrical machine as a group of MECH soldiers and MECHicons stood behind them, with four of the human soldiers holding on to their rifles that stunned the team. Commander Rourke then appeared in the group and slowly approached the unconscious bots, impressed by what they've discovered.

Commander Rourke: "That was a little too close… Normally, I would've order my men to stun all of you if you ever reached the command center. But a wise soldier knows when the opportunity is there for the taking. Take these four to the lab for the Director. They need to be prepped for interrogation."

MECH soldier 18: "Yes commander."

So Rourke walked away as the MECHicons came in and dragged the Autobots bodies on the floor. They didn't even realize that Arcee's comm. was still on as Ratchet was trying to communicate back to them.

Ratchet: _"Arcee? Are you there? Please respond! What's going on out there?! Arcee!"_

* * *

**Now this is where I would end my chapter. It was pretty interesting what I did adding Sam Witwicky from the movieverse into Prime. Don't worry; it's not going to be like the movies and Sam could be a real help with the Autobots instead of a plot device to centers around him and his love life. Now on the next chapter, with the Autobots in trouble it's up to Jack, Raf, Miko, and June to come and rescue them. Meanwhile, the Director has plans for Team Prime and Prof. Sumdac is in the crossroads. What will become of everyone? You have to see for yourself once I update this. Please Review.**


	13. Complications

**Well this is interesting. If it's one thing I hate, are people posting up screen shots of Beast Hunters. Here, let me give you an example. So I've been looking over Deviant Art to see what's been updated on the searches and I found some screen shots involving the episode 'Chain of Commands'. What I found that's really shocking is the one of the screen shots involved Miko using the Apex Armor! Now I didn't see this episode because I promised myself that I wouldn't watch season three until I get to episode two for some ideas. Still I think that part of the episode leaves an interesting question. For example, Starscream and Arcee used the Apex Armor because I believe it only works on robots due to the fact that the armor itself connects to their chest by, and it's my thoughts mind you, small needles that connect to their spark chambers. Now if say a human used the Apex Armor and the needles stick to their chest, wouldn't it ultimately kill them? This is just my thoughts since I know that only cybertronians, being Autobot of Decepticon, can use those Iacon Relics. And since Miko was using the armor, it would be obvious that she would've died from the process. This is a really good discussion if anyone is interested. All and all, I think her turning into an Autobot is WAY better then her wearing the Apex Armor.**

**Looking back at the last chapter's responses got a total of ten, soon to be eleven for another guest review, and almost six hundred hits. Still not that much as the last chapter, but it was two weeks after I upload it. Though I got to say something for the guests that are writing their reviews in my story, please put your name so that way I know who's sending it to me. I'm getting a little tired of people giving reviews while not giving me their actual names. Let's see what chapter thirteen of the first episode of TFP season three can offer. With Team Prime taken by MECH, the recruits have to come in to rescue them. Meanwhile the Director has other intentions for his master plan and wants to use the help of Team Prime while Sumdac is stuck in a crossword of what to do. What are the Director's intentions and will the recruits be able to save their friends? Just read and see for yourself.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Complications

_Agent Fowler,_

_General Tilson told me that at the Milton Airforce Base, which the Autobots were present when they were training their recruits, was under attack some time ago. Now from what Tilson said is that the Autobots disobeyed direct orders from me and went on the attack, again. Even these recruits joined in when things got a little dicey. Though I appreciate them in saving our men, I don't like people not following orders from their superiors._

_But there is one thing that got me extremely angry. Tilson then said that these robots that attacked the bases in both North and South Dakota weren't Decepticons, but some kind of cybernetic soldiers created by MECH. Not only that, but MECH's newest weapons, these MECHicons as he called it, were human soldiers that took part in something called Project Metamorphosis? Why haven't you told me about this the moment your interns were rescued by Team Prime? And how didn't I know of this until just now? Hell, you even let the Autobots to head to MECH's base near Garrison instead of sending military dispatch to dispose of them and haven't informed me about it?_

_This is the last straw Fowler! I have it up to here with all this insubordination! I want you in my office immediately to discuss about all these recent events. Trust me when I say this, it's going to be a long talk…_

_Sincerely,  
General Bryce_

* * *

In the Autobot base underneath Lake Eerie Ratchet is trying to contact Arcee when he got the call from her. He got contact with her as she was telling him some news that can forever change the war. But before she could say it, there was sudden static on the comms and then nothing. The medic frantically try to regain communication but it has proven to be useless.

Ratchet: "Arcee? Are you there? Please respond! What's going on out there?! Arcee!"

As he was trying to respond, the doors opened up and Wheeljack came in with the recruits following behind. They were telling the Wrecker what happened at the airforce base, as he was stunned just to hear it.

Wheeljack: "So let me get this straight. You're telling me that MECH created these MECHicons to destroy those human bases and Team Prime took them out?"

Miko, or Kaosu, nodded and continued with what happened.

Miko/Kaosu: "You bet! They were almost beat until we came in and save their tailpipes. Guess all that training really paid off huh?"

Wheeljack turned to her and smiled.

Wheeljack: "You've certainly got the Wrecker fire in you kid. I'll give you that. I just cannot believe I missed out on the action! I really want to see these MECHicons in action so I could scrap them!"

Jack, also known as Rodimus, turned to Jackie and told him that he would meet them again.

Jack/Rodimus: "Don't get your hopes up Wheeljack. There will be other times you'll see them in action, if there's still any left when the team takes the Director's project out of commission."

Miko turned her head away and huffed about that.

Miko/Kaosu: "I'm still bummed that they would've let us help them in going to MECH new base so we can tear it down. We're not human anymore! They can't treat us like that!"

Jackie turned to her and explained something that made some sense.

Wheeljack: "I think they have a reason. You guys are not human, but you are still in training. Don't think it's wise to let recruits into battle without the proper survival. I'm sure you'll get your action soon enough. Besides, I think they will be all right taking on some human Cons without any help. Bulkhead is as tough as lug nuts and wouldn't go down without a fight."

As soon as he said that, he overheard Ratchet trying frantically contact the others but couldn't get any of them.

Ratchet: "Bumblebee? Bulkhead? Smokescreen? Is anyone there? Answer me! Slag it! Can't get a response from anyone!"

The others looked on at the medic and had worried looks on their faces. Rodimus then stepped in and asked Ratch what's the matter.

Jack/Rodimus: "Ratchet, what's wrong?"

Ratchet answered the former human while getting the comms working again.

Ratchet: "Arcee contacted me about news of MECH but was cut short before she could explain to me the situation. Can't get the others on the coms either. Almost like someone short circuited them."

The recruits now got nervous as June, now Altra, stepped in about the issue.

June/Altra: "Are they dead?"

Ratchet checked the team's vital signs on the screen and could tell that they are normal. But he noticed a subtitle in Cybertronian that states that they are in an unconscious state. Upon looking at their stats, he answered the nurse's question.

Ratchet: "No, thank the All Spark. Their life signals are still operational, but they all appear to be in deep stasis. Almost like they were attacked or something."

Raf, A.K.A. Firewall, approached him and realized something.

Raf/Firewall: "Attacked? You mean they were captured!"

The other turned to the hacker and was surprised by it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Captured?!"

Miko/Kaosu: "No way!"

But Ratchet stopped them before they would come to a conclusion.

Ratchet: "Ep, ep, ep… Let's not jump the gun yet. I'm sure that they coms got fired due to an EMP burst or electrical distortion. Might explain why they wouldn't contact the base. I'll try to call them again and see if they got their communications working."

But the recruits didn't like that as Jack told them that won't work.

Jack/Rodimus: "Wait until they call back? Ratchet, this is serious! If Team Prime was attacked by MECH and was taken, they could be in trouble. MECH might use them for more experimentation like what they did to us, possibly kill them. We have to do something!"

The medic turned to one of the recruits and argued back to him.

Ratchet: "And how are we going to do that? Unless I can get any word from them, I can't do anything about it."

Wheeljack heard that news and he too was concerned about the team, mostly Bulkhead. Rubbing his chin, he had to figure out a way in saving them before those humans can do something to them. He then turned to Ratch and asked about where they are.

Wheeljack: "Tell me something Ratchet, can you lock on to their coordinates?"

The medic turned to the Wrecker and answered that question as truthfully as he can.

Ratchet: "I might. But I can't simply bridge anyone to those coordinates when they're in enemy territory. The moment I open the portal, MECH might shoot you down the moment you go through it. Worse yet, they might come in the other way and discover the location of our base. Can't have this place be destroyed like what happened to Omega One."

Jackie nodded and decided to take the next option.

Wheeljack: "Then send those coordinates to my Jackhammer. I'll fly down there myself and prepare a strike on MECH's new home."

Ratchet's optics blinked and could tell the Wrecker means business.

Ratchet: "You can't be serious Wheeljack. You're not thinking of going down there by yourself with no back up? That's a suicide run!"

Wheeljack: "Hey, when you're a Wrecker you never back down from a fight. Besides, I've been through much worse scrapes with Cons then this. So suicide or not I'm going down there and rescue them."

Ratchet: "Maybe you don't get it Wheeljack, but MECH's much more dangerous then Decepticons. Look at what they did since they knew of our existence. They took Breakdown and dissected him, they captured June with the help of Airachnid, stole Bumblebee's T-Cog, created a copy of Optimus Prime to frame us, and turned the our human allies into our own kind! Do you honestly think that you would go out there alone? I'm positive that they would take you in as well for their sick experiments."

As the veteran continues to rant, he heard the voice of Jack in the close to him.

Jack/Rodimus: "He's not doing it alone…"

Ratchet peeked at Jack and was confused.

Ratchet: "I beg your pardon?"

Jack looked right at the medic and told him straight forward.

Jack/Rodimus: "I said he's not doing it alone. You said it yourself, Wheeljack can't go down there himself with MECHicons surrounding him. He needs all the help he can. So I'm joining him."

Raf then stepped in and agreed with his friend.

Raf/Firewall: "Me too."

Followed by Miko…

Miko/Kaosu: "Count me in as well."

Ratchet looked at all three and couldn't believe what he's hearing.

Ratchet: "Are you three out of your minds! Each of you are in training and Arcee specifically told you to remain here until they return. I can understand you manage to take down a small group, but this is a huge army we're talking about here! You won't last out there without any proper medical attention."

But as he saw that, June interrupted him.

June/Altra: "If that's the case, then I'm coming too."

Ratch turned to the nurse and was shocked to hear that from her.

Ratchet: "Not you too June. Don't tell me you're going to help out in this insane mission. I forbid it!"

Altra approached the medic and explained why she has to do it.

June/Altra: "Ratchet, the kids are risking their lives to save their friends. They might need all the medical attention they can, including Arcee and the others. We might be recruits, but we are just as brave as them and we too risk everything for them."

Jack listened to his mom and agreed with everything she said.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom does have a point Ratch. Team Prime needs our help now more then ever and ready or not, we will save them even if it means risking our own lives."

Ratchet slowly looked towards Jack and was irate at their decision. He slowly walks to him and gave him a direct order.

Ratchet: "This is complete and utter madness! I cannot allow you to go out there and get killed for the team. You will remain here until Arcee and the others return. Doctors orders!"

Kaosu just pouted when she heard him and reminded him about what happened before.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah right… Says the bot that told us to go home when he should've taken a few minutes of his time picking us up from school while our friends were saving their world."

That stuck a circuit in Ratchet's frame and was about to spat back at her. But he stopped and remembered that moment that cost him and the team everything they've worked for. Jack slowly walked up to him and explains to him that they have to do this.

Jack/Rodimus: "Listen Ratchet, I know you think of us as nothing more then newly recruited bots since what happened to us. But we've been a big help to you and the others when we were once human. Now the MECH has taken them, we need to save them the same way they saved us. Just think about this for a second. You made one mistake that cost us Optimus. Do you want to make another mistake that will cost us the rest of Team Prime?"

The medic was taken aback by what he said and didn't know how to respond. Indeed what happened at the Omega Lock incident cost them their leader, but it wasn't his fault. Was it? Wheeljack then went next to Rodimus and agreed with him.

Wheeljack: "I hate to say this, but he's right Ratchet. With last of the Primes gone, the team is without a leader and no way in ending this war since Megatron is still around. If the rest of the team joins the Well of the All Spark, whose going to protect Earth and the human race from the Decepticons? You, me, and a bunch of recruits that just got started in training? Then if that's the case, we might as well surrender and hand the Earth to the cons on a silver platter."

Ratchet remained quiet when he heard Jackie's words and was beginning to doubt himself. He needs to make sure that these former humans need to remain in the base since they were still in training. But if the team is captured by MECH and if they went offline, who's going to stop Megatron from conquering this planet? He can't let that fall into his conscious like the death of Optimus. Jack approached him and asked him for this favor one last time.

Jack/Rodimus: "Please Ratchet, let us go. They need our help more then ever. Don't make the same mistake that took Optimus's life."

Ratchet was still silent and didn't know what to do. He can't let these recruits out there to stop MECH and save the team. Nor does he want Team Prime killed in the hands of a bunch of human salvages. Thinking of no other choice, he sighed in defeat and gave his answer.

Ratchet: "Fine… You want to save the team? Then go save them. It's a shame that I'm going to miss the good old days."

Everyone heard what Ratchet said and was overly excited that they have to prove themselves by saving their friends. But before they would leave, Rodimus then asked him about what he said.

Jack/Rodimus: "What do you mean when you said that you will miss the old days Ratchet?"

Ratch turned to him and told him about what he meant by that.

Ratchet: "That you were all once human… And annoying…"

* * *

Arcee's POV

Well this is a whole load of scrap. One breen I was contacting Ratchet on what MECH is really planning, the next we got struck down. How slagging embarrassing… I knew this was a trap the moment we entered that command center, I didn't expect an attack from behind. Now all I see is nothing but darkness and I couldn't see a thing, leaving me in stasis for Primus knows how long. But I did slip in and out of conscious, over hearing a few of those MECHicons talking about us while they are dragging us somewhere.

MECHicon 4: "So where are we taking these bots?"

MECHicon 5: "The Director said he needs them in the lab. Said something about asking some questions."

MECHicon 4: "That sounds like fun. How's he going to do that? They are not the talkative kind."

MECHicon 5: "Oh he has his ways. These eggheads always get what they want."

MECHicon 4: "And once he done with that, then what? We can't let them leave."

MECHicon 5: "The same thing we do with all other prisoners after interrogation."

MECHicon 4: "And what happens when the military find their bodies?"

MECHicon 5: "Hmph… What bodies?"

I heard the two chuckle to themselves until I went back into stasis. But hearing them, I got a sickening feeling I'm not going to like what this Church guy has plan for us. I remained in stasis for a long time. It felt like steller cycles since I'm in the dark. But then, I could hear a voice close to me. Don't know what, but it almost sounded like Smokescreen.

Smokescreen: "Arcee? Are you there? Wake up! Wake up!"

His voice sounds clear and I knew I was regaining my consciousness. But the moment I opened my optics, I was in for quite a surprise.

* * *

Normal POV

Smokescreen: "Arcee? Are you there? Wake up! Wake up!"

Arcee slowly started to stir as she slowly opened her optics. She then started to study her surroundings and realized he was in a lab of some kind, surrounded by MECH soldiers, scientists, and two MECHicons at watch. There was even a big terminal that is on stand by with a set of four wires connected to the back and lead to where she was. Feeling panicked, she tried to get out only to realize she was strapped onto a berth of some kind with shackles on her wrists, feet, waist, and neck and they were really tight on her. Looking on her left, she saw Smokescreen in the same predicament as her and to her right was both Bumblebee and Bulkhead. She turned to the Elite Guard and asked what is going on.

Arcee: "Smokescreen? What's going on? Where are we?"

Smokescreen: "Don't know. When I woke up I was right here, strapped to a berth."

The Wrecker and said to same thing from Smoke's mouth.

Bulkhead: "Same here. I looks like we're in some kind of lab. Now I can imagine how Breakdown felt when he was taken in by these slaggin scrappers."

Bumblebee looked around and was extremely nervous about this.

Bumblebee: _**(What are they going to do to us?)**_

The femme looked at the scout and tried to calm him down.

Arcee: "Don't know Bee, but we have to get out of here quick before they start on whatever they want. Too bad this shackles are made of metal or I would've used the armor plating on my wrists to break free."

As she said that, the metal doors opened and two people came in. Arcee looked at the two and noticed that they were the Director and Commander Rourke entering the lab. The Director had a confident smile on his face and was impressed by their accomplishments.

Director: "Why hello my dear Autobots! We've got to stop meeting like this. Though it's nice that you all come on such shot notice, I never thought that all of you were quite clever. First, you managed to breach my security by taking a dive in the Missouri River and enter the base through the spillway underwater. And then taking out one of the security teams guarding the water storage area. You've seen sneaked through my facility without getting detected. And then you decided to use the sprinkler system to cause a ruckus my base. A little childish yes, but it was effective nonetheless. I got to say, you are all very adaptive to your skills then I thought."

Arcee narrowed her optics and had a dissatisfying taste in her voice.

Arcee: "Gee, We're flattered…"

The Director then got serious and went back to the task at hand.

Director: "Though I'm not here to talk about what you did. Oh no… I just want to ask for a small favor from all of you. I assume you've already seen my latest work correct?"

The femme remained focused on him as she answered his question.

Arcee: "You could say that. And we also destroyed them when they tried to dismantle that air base."

Church gave her a deep glare, but regained his composure and went on with his talk.

Director: "They have made the sacrifice necessary for the greater good. But they were a grand success. Thanks to your little friends, MECH had created the perfect robotic soldiers needed for our vision. But my creations are just the beginning. You see, I'm focusing on something much more bigger then all those military bases that were attacked. Something the people will talk about for a long time. Something the families will talk to their children for generations. I was thinking of…"

Arcee: "Attacking Jasper?"

The Director stopped talking and looked at the two-wheeler quizzically.

Arcee: "I saw what you were planning and where are you targeting next."

Church lowered his head and sighed to himself.

Director: "I see… So you've seen what my master plan is. Very genius plan don't you agree?"

The others were very silent until they all responded differently.

Arcee: "I think the words suicidal seem more like it."

Smokescreen: "Yeah! Incase you weren't updated to current events, the Cons destroyed that town when they decided to move in."

Bulkhead: "Not to mention that they have a barrier to would protect them from any outside forces. It will be impossible for you to break into their defenses."

Bumblebee: _**(You got to be sick in your head if you think you're going to go there, you fragging peace of slag!)**_

The other looked at the scout and was surprised about what he said.

Smokescreen: "Wow… Never though you had it in you Bee."

The Director didn't hear his words, just beeps and whirls. But he decided to pretend to know what he's saying and went back to his talk.

Director: "Oh I'm fully aware of what happened on that small town my friends. I also know that the military tried valiantly to break into their defenses but failed many times. But what they lack is knowledge and mostly rely on brute force."

Arcee: "And you think you can succeed?"

He turned to the femme and answered her as calmly as he can.

Director: "But of course. But I'm going need your help for this. See, since Silas succeeded in knowing your biology, he never grasped your technology. I'm certain that your planet has many innovations that are beyond our own. Believe me when I say this, MECH is an organization that wants the most advance in weaponry. Which is why we all meet, to give me what I want. Your technology…"

The team had wide optics and realized why they were taken alive. The Director wants to know the tech Cybertron had to offer. Arcee had a sickening looked on her face.

Arcee: "If you think you're going to force us to talk about Cybertron's secrets, you got another thing coming. We're not going to spill."

Church just heard her threat and laughed a little lowly.

Director: "Talk? Why would a waist my time in talking, when I can extract that information from all of you."

He then made a quick signal as one of the scientists nodded and pressed a button on the console. Almost instantly, two metal holders came out of the berths between their helms and tightened them so they won't move. They were all caught by surprise as they tried to move their heads but failed miserably. But then, the metal behind their heads opened up to reveal an opening. Behind their berths were big cables with a pointy middle just a few centimeters near their berths. As that started, the Director explained to them what's going to happen.

Director: "I'm no fool my dear lady. I know that all of you a much older then you look. So you have all the knowledge of weapons and tech that would be perfect for our cause. In short, you are all walking USB drives. What we're going to do is copy that information from your processors and download them directly into our databanks. From there, we can understand your technology and use it to our advantage."

He then made another gesture as the scientist pressed another button. The wires at the end activated as the circular copper turned a little, making the silver needle stick out more. In a matter of a second, the wire was pushed forward as the needles inserted themselves into opening of the team's helms. They all yelped in pain as the wires inserted themselves into their processor and hurts a whole lot more then the psychic patch. The Director looked on as they tried to struggle and smirked at their effortless endeavor.

Director: "Oh don't worry, I won't wipe all of your memory clean. I'm not that heartless. But I can't let you all out when I'm done with the procedure. Perhaps maybe I would have my doctors open you up to understand your weaponry incase I need a few new classes of my soldier's. Or better yet, reprogram you to become loyal servants to our cause. The possibilities are quite endless."

He approached the terminal ready to initiate the final part, reaching the button to begin the download. Arcee peered her optics to him and wasn't going to stand for this, so she threatened him further.

Arcee: "Director! I swear upon the All Spark if you push that button, I'm going to squish you like an Earth bug!"

The Director stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to her, ready to give her something that she won't expect.

Director: "Now who says that I was going to finish this procedure?"

The femme looked at him strangely and wondered what he has up his sleeve. Suddenly the doors opened up again and another person came in. She turned to that person and was shocked to see that it was Professor Issac Sumdac, looking a little worried.

Professor Sumdac: "Sorry I'm late Director! I've been trying to contact my daughter on her cell phone and I couldn't get a response from her. I'm just hoping that she's safe."

As he looked up, he noticed Team Prime strapped on the berths and looked like they were connected to something. The Director turned to him and has a pleasing smile on his face.

Director: "Aw, Issac! Perfect timing! Come here, I want to show you something.

The professor looked back and forth between the Director and the Autobots and was a little confused then ever. Walking to the head scientist, he started to ask some questions.

Professor Sumdac: "What is going on around here? Why are the Autobots in this base and strapped in those berths?"

The Director could tell that he was perplexed by the sight and gave him a little talk.

Director: "Oh that. Let me explain. See these Autobots managed to breach my security into my new facility and were close into discovering my true intentions. The Commander managed to take them down before they to reveal it to the world. But since they are here, I wanted to know more about them, mainly their cybernetic innovations. As you can see, they are already prepped for extraction and need one more button to finish the process. So perhaps maybe you would do the honors and begin the download."

Sumdac looked at the team the pleading optics, telling him not to do it. The professor then looked at Church and told him this wasn't right.

Professor Sumdac: "But professor, this is all wrong. Turning humans to robots is one thing, but torturing robots for Intel, downloading it out of their processors, that's a whole different story. I can't do this!"

The Director could tell he wasn't going to do this, so he decided to give a little motivation to him.

Director: "But you have no other choice professor. After all, you were the one that helped them in the first place."

That got Sumdac's attention and as he looked right at him with a raised eyebrow.

Professor Sumdac: "What are you talking about."

The Director took a deep breath and knew that he was holding something.

Director: "Ah Professor Sumdac, you can cut the act. I know a lie when I smell it. Commander Rourke, would you kindly show him the video feed from a few weeks ago?"

The commander nodded and took out a tablet that showed the video feed from the previous facility. Taking it, the professor looked at the screen and had his eyes wide. On that screen showed him helping the Autobots freeing their former human friends in the recovery room. The Director and shook his head and made a tisking noise.

Director: "My dear Sumdac… Your act of valor certainly intrigues me."

Sumdac turned to the Director and explains to him why he did that.

Professor Sumdac: "And you have no right in interfering with my personal life. I did what I have to do to save those people. I cannot not stand by and watch as you turned four innocent civilians into lab rats! I don't want to turn into a criminal for you sick deeds!"

The Director took a breather to calm his nerves as he gave the professor an ultimatum.

Director: "Normally if it were up to me, I would remove you from this operation forcefully. But since I'm in a good mood and we have the Autobots in our custody, I think it's time for you to give some redemption. Now if you please professor, begin the download."

The professor looked back up to the Autobots and was in the crossroads. He wants to help out the Director with whatever type of work he's doing, but he doesn't want to hurt that very Autobots that he helped. He doesn't want to become the enemy of them and couldn't take up that burden. He then turned back and decided to threaten Church.

Professor Sumdac: "You expect me to go through with this!?"

The head scientist just looked at him intently and gave a threat of his own.

Director: "Oh but of course. And don't try to weasel your way out of this one professor, for you have no choice in the matter. After all, we wouldn't want anything bad happen to them now would we?"

As soon as he asked that, the Director pressed a button and a window popped up showing a live security feed. The professor turned to the screen to see what he's talking about, only to realize that there were prisoners held captive in some kind of holding cell. But these weren't ordinary prisoners. One was an ordinary boy and the other is an Indian girl of sixteen with red pigtail hair and bright blue eyes. The professor starred on in shock and realized that it was his own daughter Sari and her friend Sam Witwicky. The other Autobots saw this too and was alarmed by this unexpected twist of fate. The professor turned to his boss and was completely furious over this.

Professor Sumdac: "I told you to leave Sari out of this! I told you to never let her know about what I'm really doing! How could you do this?!"

The Director looked down to him in a stern looked and explained the situation he's in now.

Director: "Now you listen to me, and listen well professor. You actions had lead you into this in the first place. It is your self-pity and brought your daughter and her friend here to begin with. Now let me give you a choice. You begin downloading the information from the Autobot's processors and I'll let your daughter and the boy go. You don't do it, well, let's just say your precious Sari will be reunited with her mother very soon."

Issac was wide eyed and couldn't believe what he was hearing. If he doesn't follow the Director's orders and download the information of the Autobots technology, then the only family he has will be killed. Arcee listened in on the conversation and had a sour look on her face.

Arcee: "You're a sick, depraved, twisted monster!"

Church turned to the two-wheeler and retorted back to her.

Director: "I'm no monster my dear. I'm an innovator, looking for the right opportunity. And you, your team, and the professor came at the right place in the right time."

He then went back to Sumdac and ordered him one more time.

Director: "Now, I'm going to say this to you one more time professor. You begin the download right now or have your daughter taken from you forever. What's it going to be?"

The Director was silent throughout the whole thing and doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want the Autobots hurt in this new procedure, nor does he want his daughter to fall victim to the Director. Thinking of no other option, he slumped his shoulders and had a sulky expression while the head scientist looked on with a gleeful look on his face.

Director: "Excellent… I knew you see things my way… Now begin the operation."

Sumdac looked up at the Director and nodded in agreement, just so he can save Sari's life. He slowly approached the terminal and reached for the button. The team was in a panic and tried to stop the professor.

Bulkhead: "Issac, don't do this!"

Bumblebee: _**(Don't push that button!)**_

Smokescreen: "Think about what you're doing!"

Arcee: "Please Issac… Listen to reason. You can't just let the Director get away with this."

Sumdac slowly turned to Arcee and had no other choice in the matter.

Professor Sumdac: "I'm sorry Arcee… But if it means saving my daughter, then so be it."

With that said, he pressed the button and the process begins. Suddenly, they gasped in pain with their optics bugging out, going into a deep awakening stasis. In their heads, the data in their processors were being copied and downloaded into MECH's main databases. Everything from schismatic, technology, weapons, history, and even their own memories are being transferred into the mainframe. On one of the screen, there were four windows of the downloading process. Looking on, the Director noticed that it was slow going, no matter how fast the Internet connection is.

Director: "Shameful… This download is going to take a while… Professor Sumdac, keep watch the transfer of the Autobot's data. Let me know when this is finished."

The professor looked at Church and nodded blankly. The Director smiled and headed to one of the scientists and asks for a favor.

Director: "Keep watch on Sumdac. Make sure he doesn't disconnect the download. I cannot let him ruin my master plan."

The scientist nodded and went back to work. Soon enough, the Director and Commander left the lab as the scientists were working on the head scientist's latest project. Two of the MECHicons soon followed at they kept on guard outside of the lab. But Sumdac looked right at the four autobots in a torturous state as their data and memories were sucking out of their processors. He sighed and said something under his breath as he looked back at the security feed of his daughter and Sam sitting there looking a little scared.

Professor Sumdac: "I'm sorry…"

* * *

**Now that's chapter thirteen. Yeah it's short, but this is before the real action begins. You might be interested in what I'm going to do with the kids and June when they enter a real battle. You'll be in for quite a surprise. Until then, stay frosty. Please Review.**


	14. Surrender

**So, pretty much Transformers Prime Beast Hunters is going to be delayed mid season because of the new shows the Hub has. That's just the bad news. The good news is however is that they are going to finish it at the end of June. That's pretty much good since this season is fifteen to sixteen episodes long unlike the last two seasons that lasted twenty-five to twenty-six. I mean seriously, why hold the TFP mid season when there's not as much episodes in between? I feel that's just ridiculous! Well, at least we don't have to wait that long anyways, or there would be fans confused as to why they cut the season so abruptly. Let's check in on the last chapter and see what people are saying. Fifteen reviews and 869 hits huh? As always, I'm getting some good responses. Oh and John, I can tell that you don't have a DeviantArt account since what you said to me. But rest assure, you can still send me the picture through my e-mail account. My e-mail address is on my profile page. Send me the pictures there when you're done drawing them. Can't wait to see what you have. Time to see what we got in store for chapter fourteen of TFP S3 Ep. 1. With Team Prime held captive and being used to download Intel of their technology, it's up to Jack, Raf, Miko, and June to rescue them. But how are they going to get in with the little training that they have? Let's take a good look and see what they have planed.**

**Chapter Notes**

**There will be a couple of appearances of the Red vs. Blue characters I previous introduced, but I got one new one to add to the chapter. I'm sure you'll be in for a real treat. Let me give you a few hints as to who this next one is. He's completely strict. Carries a shotgun. Likes to make Grif's life a living Hell. Any takers? Let's see in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Surrender

_Dear Director,_

_The board and I are quite pleased with the results from your Project Metamorphosis. With the soldiers we gave you, you've certainly made quite a reputation. Even the training both in the field and out seems to be going in order. However, there is the issue we have with the last base that you tried to destroy._

_It would seem that judging by our insiders that the Autobots were present in the Milton Airforce Base and stopped one of your units from demolishing the rest of the military complex. Not only that, but to add insult to injury, the four test subjects you used to start your project assisted them in destroying your new soldiers! This is the reason why we have our policy, to make sure every weapon (living or not) doesn't fall into the enemy's hands. You have broken that policy Director and it's going to cause some serious problems here in MECH. I just hope you clean this mess up. The last thing we want is our own weapons turned against us._

_On a much lighter note, I have already given permission for you to use Private Jenkins, the sole survivor from Silas's onslaught, to take part in this project. I really don't know what you have planned for him, but I'm hoping that he would become a big part of MECH's cause. See to it that the new patient is prepped and ready for your work. I would like to see the end results._

_Sincerely  
P.C.P._

* * *

An hour later, the Morrison Dam was under higher security due to Team Prime's infiltration. Now more soldiers and MECHicons were present patrolling the area as more tanks, choppers, and anti aircraft missiles were posted around the area. Up on the high mountain not far from the action, the Jackhammer was parked near the rock wall while Rodimus, Firewall, and Kaosu, formally known as Jack, Raf, and Miko, were looking into the area. Rodimus got his visor on and took a closer look at the base. Looking into MECH's defenses it wasn't any good. Kaosu looked at her friend and asked since she doesn't have any way in taking a closer look.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well? What are we up against?"

Jack removed his visor and answered the Japanese femme's question.

Jack/Rodimus: "To tell you the truth, a whole lot of trouble. Whatever the team did certainly liven up MECH's attention. Security is incredibly tight and I don't see anyway of getting in there without a fight."

Kaosu rolled her optics around and responded the best way she could.

Miko/Kaosu: "No problem. We just drive down there and we break through their defenses."

Jack turned to her and told her that it was no good.

Jack: "I don't think that's going to work Miko. Team Prime has been captured remember? If we try to get in there by force, they might possibly kill them."

Kaosu turned her head away and pouted.

Miko/Kaosu: "Sheesh… What is it with you and not fighting the enemy?"

Jack/Rodimus: "And what is it with you and solving all problems in fighting? I think you find pleasure on it."

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey! At least my guardian can dish it out whatever's thrown at him."

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, he's certainly a real role model to you."

As the two were arguing, Jackie came out of the back of his ship with Altra soon following him.

Wheeljack: "Well, the last of the scramblers have been inserted. Feel anything June?"

The moment they got to the dam, Wheeljack decided to install both the Energon Dampeners and Comm. Scramblers just so they can communicate without Soundwave picking up the calls or if the cons starts searching for signatures. To the recruits it was their first time getting something installed in their bodies. But on Cybertronian standards, they don't have to worry about the operation being that they are made of metal. Still, they felt a little weird after the installments.

June/Altra: "No Wheeljack, I feel alright. It just it's seem so strange. What with the whole installing upgrades into our bodies and all."

The Wrecker chuckled and responded to her awkwardness.

Wheeljack: "Well, this is what happens when you install upgrades for the first time. Gets weird at first, but give it a couple of more tries you will get use to it."

As they walked to the group, they notice the two arguing as the mother stopped them.

June/Altra: "Miko Nakadai! Jackson Darby! Will you two stop fighting?"

The two stopped fighting and turned to the femme medic. They went silent and decided to save the fighting for later since they have bigger things to take care of. Wheeljack looked at this and was intrigued by this talk. He could tell that no matter how much they changed, they still act like kids and a mother. Getting back to the task at hand, he asked Rodimus about the situation.

Wheeljack: "Well Rodimus, what are we up against?"

Jack turned to him and explained what they're in for.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well let's see… We have scouting parties patrolling the area, tanks defending the borders, and anti air missiles and choppers keeping the skies clear of any enemy human or bot. So long story short, we're screwed."

Jackie looked yonder at the scene in front of them and smirked.

Wheeljack: "Is that so? Well nothing like the Jackhammer will solve this. I fly in, blast their defenses, and tear it apart just to find the team."

Rodimus rubbed his chin and shook his head, not liking that plan.

Jack/Rodimus: "That sounds a little tempting, but you should think about the consequences. We don't know how deep the facility is or how stable it is underground. You try to blow that place up the whole facility would cave in and our friends will be buried completely. Trust me, the last thing I want is to have created graves for them the moment they get buried. This is suppose to be a rescue mission, not a full frontal assault."

Wheeljack crossed his arms and had a sour look on his face.

Wheeljack: "If you have any bright ideas, I love to hear it."

Jack looked down at the view and tried to figure things out.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well, we can't get in there without figuring out where MECH is keeping our friends captive. There is no telling if the place is big or not. It would be impossible."

As he said that, Raf turned to his friend and came up with a solution.

Raf/Firewall: "I think I have a way."

Jack turned to the hacker and was interested in what he has to say.

Jack/Rodimus: "You do?"

Raf nodded and explained what he has planned.

Raf/Firewall: "I've done some research on the Morrison Dam and gained access to the map of the inside. There appears to be three floors underground and the first one contains a security station. If we can get in there, then I would hack into their security through there and pinpoint the location where are friends are being held captive."

Miko looked at her friend and asked how he knows that.

Miko/Kaosu: "And how do you know they have a security station in there?"

He turned to her and explained what she wants to know.

Raf/Firewall: "I had access to the Internet in my processor. Another new feature MECH added to help me gather research. Been doing that when we were taking a break in our training regiment."

She did a double take couldn't believe what he just said.

Miko/Kaosu: "So you're a walking Wi-Fi network. I'm so jealous of you."

Jack looked down at the dam's defenses and was a little unsure about this.

Jack/Rodimus: "So what you're saying is that we have to get in there so you can hack into their security field? Sounds easy on paper, not in the battlefield. There's got to be a way in getting into that place without shooting our way through."

Jackie smirked and told him what he was thinking.

Wheeljack: "You're certain that I shouldn't go in there with my ship and break through their defenses?"

Rodimus turned to him and answered with a question of his own.

Jack/Rodimus: "Do you not see what MECH is packing? I don't know if you can get one shot out of all that firepower. If we can find a way in lower their defenses, then maybe you would get the chance in striking first before they do."

The Wrecking cadet turned to him and told him that won't do.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah… Good luck on that part Jack. You expect to come down there and ask them to shut their defenses down politely?"

Jack thought about that and know that it was a really long shot. But then he remembered that MECH created them and they wouldn't destroy their own creations. So he turned back to Miko and had a sly smile on his face.

Jack/Rodimus: "No. But I do have a plan in getting in there."

* * *

Inside the facility, Professor Sumdac was at the lab paying close attention to the data that is being gathered. Looking back, he saw the Autobots in a motionless state with their optics wide open as the cables connected to the backs of their helms copied and download data from their processors to MECH's own databanks. He sighed, knowing that he has no choice. Turning to one of the screens, he saw Sari with her knees to her chest, worried and scared about the whole situation while Sam Witwicky was looking at the camera, wondering who is watching. Issac knows that if he doesn't follow through with the Director's orders, then the head scientist will have no other choice but to kill the two prisoners. He sighed; knowing there's no escaping it. As he looked at the security screen, one of the scientists approached him and asked about the progress.

MECH Scientist 2: "Sumdac, what's the status of the downloads?"

He snapped back to reality when he saw the one of the scientists looking at him for an answer. Turning back, he checked the progress bar on each of the Autobot's processors. Looking into each download window, he told him what he saw.

Professor Sumdac: "Still moving along slowly. The percentage on each Autobot has steadily increased by 15%."

The scientist nodded and gave the professor the order.

MECH Scientist 2: "Keep an eye on the downloaded data professor. The Director needs to make sure that the process is complete."

The professor nodded in agreement as the scientist left him. Sumdac then went back to the screen where it was showing the security feed of his daughter and her friend, wondering how he's going to get out of this.

* * *

In the so-called prison cell, both Sari and Sam were trapped there not knowing what to do. It was strange to them. One moment they were attacked by some strange masked men and the next they woke up in cubicle room with nothing but benches and a security camera watching them. The moment they woke up, there was a letter in the room that said that they have to remain there in an undisclosed period of time until they were released. It had been almost two hours now and they heard no word on when they would be released, let alone why are they being held captive. So all they have to do is sit there and wait until they are freed. Sam starred at the camera and was a little curious about it watching them.

Sam Witwicky: "You think someone is watching us?"

Sari had her knees to her chest feeling scared about what's going on. She looked at him and answered his question.

Sari: "If there is a camera in the room, I'm sure someone watching us."

She sighed to herself and got up off the bench approaching her friend and was upset.

Sari: "This blows… This was supposed to be a simple ride back home and now it turned into a kidnapping. Some shortcut I made."

She turned to Sam and apologized about what happened.

Sari: "I'm sorry about dragging you into this Sam. I should've let you walk home or take alternate transport."

Sam turned to her and reassured to her that it wasn't her fault.

Sam Witwicky: "Don't blame yourself Sari. You didn't expect that coming and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We never would've known this would happen until it was too late."

Sari sighed to herself and was a little worried about where they are and how they got there. She then held on to Sam's arm and was concerned about their predicament.

Sari: "Who are these people? Why did they take us? What do they want from us? I want to go home!"

Sam sighed as well and held on to her tighter.

Sam Witwicky: "I just wish we had our phones with us. They must've taken them from us while we're out. Don't worry, we'll get out of here once they let us."

Sari: "I hope your right Sam. I don't want my dad to feel worried about me."

The two held on to each other, hoping that they might get through this together. As that was going on, the security camera watched intently as someone on the other end seeing the moment.

* * *

In the main office, the Director watched on as two monitors showed two different security feeds. One was the lab where the Autobots data is being stored in the mainframe computers while the other showed the holding cell where Sari and Sam are being kept. Looking at the two held captive, it made him relive a certain memory that pained him like all other memories. It's the reason why he went from being a chairman at a company that does military weapons to the head scientist in MECH. As he was looking at that video, Commander Rourke entered the office and wanted to talk to him about something.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, I want to talk to you about Private Jenkins's procedure and…"

He looked up to see the Director feeling a little down and ask if he's all right.

Commander Rourke: "Is everything okay sir?"

Church snapped out of it and went on with his business.

Director: "Yes Commander. Everything is fine. Now what is you said about the status of Private Jenkins?"

The Commander got his tablet up and read the information down.

Commander Rourke: "Well sir, everything is in working order. Jenkins went through the first stage of Project Metamorphosis and is moving on to the second stage. He of course requested the list of weapon mods and alternate vehicle mode to accommodate his new form. Though I find it strange that he wants his choices to be perfect."

The Director slanted his chair back and explained it to him.

Director: "I want to make a new class for my mechanized soldiers commander while the private needs to be back in the field. Having him make these requests will help make this new class of soldiers necessary from my master plan."

The commander nodded and headed to his side to see what the Director was looking at. Seeing videos of the professor and the prisoners, he asked the head scientist about it.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, not to be rude or anything but is all this necessary for your plan?"

Church looked up to him with just his eyes and responded to Rourke's question.

Director: "You dare question my judgment commander? You of all people should know that survival of the fittest is our number one option. Especially after what happened to that small town two weeks ago. If we are too succeed in my plan, we have to pull all the stops to make it a reality."

Commander Rourke: "And what makes you think the professor will assist you in this latest work your doing. Kidnapping his daughter and holding her up for ransom isn't what I had in mind. Are you even going to keep your promise?"

The Director looked back at the screen and answered truthfully.

Director: "I'm a man of my word commander. Once all the data is downloaded from the Autobots, I will free the prisoners and they will all leave unharmed. He doesn't have much of a choice after all. No matter what the outcome, MECH will be victorious."

* * *

Outside of the base, a small group of tanks were watching the road incase any intruders get through, two guards were keeping watch and was getting a little lazy.

MECH Soldier 19: "Man, this is getting boring… I signed up to take down military oppression, not guard duty."

MECH Soldier 20: "Tell me about it. I want to take part in their cybernetic soldier program. Being a robot in the battlefield sounds really awesome. Better then this crap let me tell ya."

Just as they were talking about it, another MECH soldier came in the group carrying a shotgun in his hands instead of the standard rifles the other soldiers were carrying. This man approached the two to check and see what's on.

Sarge: "Hey! What is going on down there? You're here to keep watch not chit chat."

One of the soldiers turned to him and explained himself.

MECH Soldier 19: "Sorry Sarge. We were just talking about wanting to take part in the Director's Metamorphosis project. Seeing those robots transforming into cars seem like a pretty cool idea. Not to mention that that you would be completely vulnerable to human bullets. Perfect for survival don't you think?"

Sarge looked at the soldier intently and responded from his thoughts.

Sarge: "Are you serious?! You want to be incased in that metallic body full of wires and gears instead of being yourself? Back in my day, we don't have robotic bodies. We only have bodies that are tough as nails and wrecked with strength, speed, and agility. We fought through dessert lands and jungle valleys and give 110% on fighting through thick and thin. We never really need metallic bodies for our survival, we used our brawns."

The two soldiers looked at each other and snickered to themselves.

MECH Soldier 20: "That's Sarge for ya. He's always a hardcore war veteran."

The two laughed it up as Sarge looked at them with a stern look.

Sarge: "Hey, you're not paid to yap your mouths. You here to keep watch! So be on the lookout!"

The two then turned to him and complained about this.

MECH Soldier 19: "But Sarge, we've been on lookout for hours now! No one ever come down this road in a long time."

As the argument went on, four unknown vehicles were driving down that road and slowly approached the first line of MECH's defense. The Sarge looked at the soldier oddly and argued to him.

Sarge: "Is that so? Well I'll have you know is that the enemy managed to breach into our defenses without getting anywhere near here. So now we have to upgrade security in case anymore intruders try to enter."

The two soldiers then stopped paying attention to Sarge and looked at the four vehicles slowly approaching them. Looking at each other, one of them decided to warn the sergeant about it.

MECH Soldier 20: "Hey Sarge…"

Sarge: "A soldier needs to be alert at all times, as our enemies could be everywhere."

MECH Soldier 20: "Excuse me, Sarge…"

Sarge: "It doesn't matter if it's a military outfit or a zombie. You need to be fully aware of your surroundings."

MECH Soldier 21: "Yeah Sarge, about that… You see…"

The Sarge looked at the soldier and responded to his bickering.

Sarge: "What is it soldier? Spit it out already!"

It was then that there was a honk from behind him as he turned around to see a Hummer H2, a Scion XB, a McLaren MP4 12C, and a Volvo S60 Sedan Emergency Vehicle parked right in front of him. He looked on and was completely confused by what he saw.

Sarge: "What the…"

But before he could even look into those vehicles, they immediately transformed and grew, shifting metal until they have bipedal modes of their own. Standing before the three were Jack, Raf, Miko, and June in their bot modes looking down on them. Sarge freaked out and got into potion.

Sarge: "Sweet tarnations! Take them down!"

The other two got their rifles out and aimed them at the four while the tanks aimed their cannons to the recruit's chests were their sparks are located. Jack looked down at all of them and could tell that this was serious trouble. So he stepped in and raised his hand up, letting them know they don't want to fight.

Jack/Rodimus: "We're not here to fight. We just want to speak to the Director."

Sarge just lowered his shotgun and was a little confused by that.

Sarge: "Say what now?

* * *

At the same time, the Commander was still in the Director's office checking on the progress of the data download just like the Director. Just then, he got a call from his comm. earpiece and picked up the call.

Commander Rourke: "Go on…" … "Are you certain it's them?" … "They want to speak to him?" … "Very well. Take them to the front entrance. I'll let the Director know about their arrival." … "Don't question my orders Sergeant. Just bring them in now!"

He then shut off his comm. channel and approached the Director, giving him some interesting news.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, I've got contact from one of our lookout squads. Apparently they have encountered a small group of bots heading to this direction that wanted to speak to you."

Church turned to him and asked him whom it was.

Director: "Let me guess… Decepticons?"

The commander shook his head for an answer.

Commander Rourke: "No sir. I think it's something you might want to see."

The head scientist looked at him oddly and turned to the computer screen. Moving his mouse around, he clicked on one of the security feeds outside the dam and examined it. That's when he saw four cybertronians walking down the road with small MECH escort leading them to the entrance. Looking at each of them, he smirked and knew who they are.

Director: "Well now, this is a surprise. My prodigal children have returned. Perhaps we should greet them personally, shall we commander?"

Rourke looked to the Director and nodded.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir."

The two then left the office and headed straight to the entrance.

* * *

Back outside, the recruits were slowly walking to the dam with MECH's military following their every move. Altra looked around to see the soldiers and tanks nearing their position with their weapons poised and ready to fire. Feeling a little nervous, she turned to her son and wanted to know if what he's planning will work.

June/Altra: "I hope you know what you're doing Jack. Cause I don't know if I want to go through with this."

Rodimus turned to his mom and eased her mind.

Jack/Rodimus: "Don't worry mom; I got this under control. Just follow my lead."

June nodded and continued to follow his son. As they were walking, they approached the entrance, which was a huge garage like bunker to transport vehicles. Just as they headed down there, three green sports cars surround the four and transformed into robotic soldiers, all aiming their gattling blasters to them. Jack and the others kept their cool, as they know that they can't take them on yet. They had to wait until it was the right time to strike. Just then, the garage door opened up and out came the Director and Commander, wanting to see the first successful test subjects to MECH's cause. The Director looked on at the four and was quite amazed at them.

Director: "My, oh my… Isn't this quite a surprise? The very people that helped make my dream a reality. Tell me, what brings you here to my humble facility?"

Jack stepped forward and told them why they were here.

Jack/Rodimus: "We're here because we want to surrender to you."

The soldiers and MECHicons looked at each other and were confused with what he said. The Director then looked at Rourke for and explanation but he had no idea about this as well. So he turned to Rodimus for an answer.

Director: "You want to surrender? That's something unexpected. For if I remember correctly based around Intel, that you helped the Autobots defeat my newly equipped, mechanized soldiers. To what reason that you want to give up so easily?"

To that, Rodimus gave him a straight enough answer.

Jack/Rodimus: "Why for a simple trade off. We know that you are keeping our friends in there and are doing experiments with them. They don't deserve to be a part of your sick vision. So here's the deal if you agree to it. You will free our friends from whatever project you planning and in exchange, you get to have us. What do you say? Will you except this offer?"

The Director gave it some thought and came to a decision.

Director: "A tempting offer Mr. Darby, but I'm already in the middle of something important with your friends. So how about this. Once I'm done gathering whatever I need from your Autobot allies, then I'll let them go while you and the others remain in my facility for further experimentation. Deal?"

The others looked at Jack, wondering what he's going to say. The former teenage boy listened to the Director's proposal and couldn't believe it. Not only were their friends were taken, but also experimented on. But no matter what, he needs to do something in order to rescue them. So he looked down at the head scientist and gave him his answer.

Jack/Rodimus: "All right Director. You got yourself a deal."

Church perked up and was delighted with what he heard.

Director: "Splendid! I'm glad you came to your decision. Now I'll have my men take you to your new quarters. Gentlemen."

Three of the MECHicons slowly approached the four Autobot recruits and told them to get going.

MECHicon 6: "Move!"

Jack looked back at the three and knew this was going to be a problem, but he has to follow his plan. So he and the others walked into the entrance with robotic soldiers following them with their blasters pointing to their backs. Both the Director and the Commander watched as the first test subjects entered the facility and soon followed behind them. They all then entered what appears to be an elevator lift that can hold many vehicles, most likely for MECHicons to go in and out of the facility. Once they all entered the lift, it started to hum to life and began to lower itself to the floor below them. As they got started on lowering, they didn't notice Jack holding something in his servo. That something is a beacon, the same beacon Smokescreen used when he and team were rescuing their friends. Once they were in, he pushed the button and activated the beacon.

* * *

Not far from the dam, Wheeljack was sitting in the cockpit of his Jackhammer, waiting for Rodimus to give him the signal. When the former human told Jackie about the plan, the Wrecker thought that he was out of his processor. Getting into the facility by surrendering to the enemy and waiting for them to get in so he can get started on attacking them? He'd heard orders from his general that are less crazier then this. But if it means rescuing Bulkhead from the clutches of those human monsters, then do be it. As he was waiting, he heard a beep from his cockpit screen. Looking at the screen, he knew that it was the signal from the beacon he gave to Jack. Knowing that they were in, he smiled and warmed up the engines.

Wheeljack: "Showtime…"

* * *

Back in the facility, the lift continued to lower slowly as the trainees, MECHicons, Commander Rourke, and the Director was waiting to reach the floor. As they were descending, Jack wanted to know where his friends are, especially Arcee. So he looked down at the Director and asked him about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Director, where is Team Prime being kept? I was just wondering since they are our friends."

The Director looked backed to Rodimus and could tell that he was worried. With his hands clamped behind him and his back turned to the recruits, he answered his question.

Director: "I have them in a laboratory in the second floor below us working on a project I'm recently developing. Don't worry; they're safe. I just needed them for some important matters. Rest assure, once I'm done with them, I will release them. I might even let them know the valiant sacrifice you made. But that might lead them to get a little upset about that. Doesn't matter anyways, you now belong to me…"

Jack nodded and waited for the elevator to stop. But hearing what the head scientist had to say made him worry. He just hopes Wheeljack got the signal to begin the aerial assault or things could get worse for them. As they move deeper into the facility, the lift stopped and they were at the first lower floor of the base. All around them is a huge room with four additional MECHicons on post, human soldiers on the catwalks, and gun torrents positioned at the door on the other end. Looking at all of that, the recruits knew that they were in serious trouble. The Director then turned to them and ordered them to keep moving.

Director: "Now if you kindly follow me to where you would be slumbering, I would surely appreciate it."

The MECH bot then pointed his blaster to Jack's back and kept forcing him to move.

MECHicon 6: "Keep walking!"

Jack felt that hit in the back and moved slowly while the others follow suit. What MECH didn't know was something was about to happen that could cause nothing but chaos.

* * *

Back up on the surface, Sarge and the two soldiers were near the entrance with the tanks nearby as he told them about the successful mission.

Sarge: "Another job well done boys. Victory is ours."

The two soldiers looked at each other before turning to the sergeant for their side of the story.

MECH Soldier 19: "What victory? They just surrendered too easily!"

MECH Soldier 20: "Yeah! It's not like them to give up that quickly when they have the firepower necessary to take us down."

The sarge turned to them and gave them a little clarity.

Sarge: "What's crawled up you combat suit and died? A win's a win. That's all there is too it. I mean it's not like they were creating a diversion so that a real attack starts right?"

Just as he said that, a helicopter that was flying nearby was struck down by an incoming missile from out of nowhere. The Sarge and the others got startled and looked up to see the chopper in flames and crashing into the ground.

Sarge: "What in Sam Hill! What happened?"

One of the soldiers looked up at the sky and spotted something flying overhead and pointed to it.

MECH Soldier 19: "Uh, Sarge… I think you want to see this."

Sarge just looked up and spotted a ship he had never seen before. That ship was none other then the Jackhammer as it flew down to them and fired its missiles at them. Sarge starred at the missiles wide eye and mumbled a few words that's close to a curse.

Sarge: "Oh fudge pops…"

The missiles then headed to the tanks and blew up, sending the soldiers flying away from the blast.

* * *

As that happened, Professor Sumdac and the few MECH scientists were still downloading all the information needed out of the Autobots and into their mainframes. Just then, the explosion on the outside shook the room and knocked a few loose items. Luckily, the terminals are still working and the data transfer hasn't been severed. Once the scientists regained their footing, they all look up and wondered what happened.

MECH Scientist 2: "What was that?"

Sumdac looked up at the ceiling too and wondered that question as well. By the sound of it, it was an explosion of some kind. Could it be an attack? Could it be someone coming to rescue him and Team Prime? Whatever the case, he has to play along until they come to help him.

* * *

At the same time, both Sari and Sam felt the shake coming from the outside. Looking up at the ceiling, they were curious as to what it was.

Sari: "What is it? An earthquake?"

Sam Witwicky: "Doesn't sound like one. It's almost like an explosion. What's going on up there?"

* * *

Around that time, the Director looked on to see his first creations surrender and was about to take them someplace secluded. But as they were leaving the first room, they heard the explosion from above and shaking from the impact. Church looked up and wasn't expecting that.

Director: "What in the world…"

The Commander then overheard something on his comm. earpiece and told the Director about it.

Commander Rourke: "Sir, it would seem that the facility is under attack by an unknown aircraft. Some of the surviving forces said that it's the same ship that attacked the correctional facility last week."

The head scientist turned to him and was surprised.

Director: "The same ship?"

He wondered why would the Jackhammer breach through his security that easily. As he was thinking about that, he looked up to the recruits and noticed Jack giving a small smirk. Putting the two together, he realized that the former young teen had tricked him. Looking back to the commander, he told him what to do.

Director: "If it's one thing I learn in war Commander is to never trust no one. I want them terminated, now!"

The Commander nodded as the Director left the room for some damage control. Rourke then turn to the soldiers and bots and gave the order.

Commander Rourke: "Destroy them! Leave no trace!"

Everyone immediately pointed their weapons at the trainees and were about to fire. Jack then looked at the soldiers and MECHicons and knows now is the time to strike. So without hesitation, he gave the order.

Jack/Rodimus: "NOW!"

With that, Jack activated his visor and mouth guard for battle and the recruits began their attack. Miko armed up her hammer and swung at the first MECHicons before he could get a shot, sending him flying to the wall. Raf released his right cable and swung it at the enemy bot at the right, letting the weapon wrap about his body. Quickly, he swung it around and sent the MECHicon flying to the other end of the wall, knocking another bot down in the process. June activated her scalpel like blades and turned to the robotic soldier close to her, cutting his blaster off like butter before he could open fire. He then switched to his own blade and went offensive with her, leaving the two clashing both blades. Two torrent guns on the ceiling detected them as a threat and fired at them with their armor piercing rounds. Jack noticed it and raised his shield to deflect the incoming projectiles while using his blaster and shoot off two MECH soldiers that were firing on the others as well. As he was shooing, he looked around and could tell that this is going to take a while. They need to find their Autobot friends and get them out of there quick before MECH harms or terminate them. Looking back at Firewall, who took down another soldier with his tazer blaster, he told him to move forward.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall, head to the security station and find the others. We'll handle this!"

Firewall turned to his friend and nodded in approval. Quickly, he transformed and sped out of the room and out of the battle. Commander Rourke saw him leave and decided to warn the others within the base. So he got on the comm. and gave out the orders while leaving the room to grab some reinforcements.

Commander Rourke: "All units, we have a situation. Intruders have infiltrated the facility! It's the Director's first test subjects. They need to be destroyed! One of them managed to breach the entrance and is heading to the security station. The suspect is a Scion XB with an orange paint job. Do not, I repeat, do not let him go near security."

* * *

Down at the main hallway, Raf sped through the narrow area in his vehicle mode, searching for the security station. With the map he downloaded into his GPS, he followed the route that will take him to his destination. But as he made a quick turn to the left, he spotted two MECHicons on watch and noticed the Scion XB heading to their position.

MECHicon 7: "Intruder! Take him out!"

They got their blasters ready and quickly fired on him. Quickly Raf used quick turns to avoid any of the projectiles and gave them a little firepower of his own. The sides of the front engine opened up to reveal his tazers and they started to charge up. Once they were in full power, he fired the two electrical bolts right at the two targets. Those electrical projectiles hit them on impact and shocked the two enemies to the point of stasis, falling to the ground in one hit. With that out of the way, Firewall sped past the two sleeping bots and hurried to the security station.

* * *

Back at the entryway, the rest of the recruits were having a hard time taking care of the first line. For one thing, the torrents on the ceiling are making it difficult for Jack to fend for himself against two enemy robots. Another is that there were too many soldiers on the scaffolding above taking shots at them. They had to do something quick before they get shredded completely. Looking back, Rodimus saw Kaosu holding her own, avoiding the slashes from one MECHicon using her gravity hammers to lay waste to him. So he called her out for an assist.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu! A little help here!"

The Wrecker Cadet managed to hit the robotic soldier and sent him flying to another wall while looking back to see her friend protecting himself from the torrents above. Looking down to him she nodded and responded for his help.

Miko/Kaosu: "I got this!"

Looking up at the torrents, she armed her shoulder mounted rocket launchers and targets the ceiling weapons. She then fired two rockets at the guns and they both exploded upon impact. With those guns out of the way, Jack got out of his defensive position and went to his offensive by switching his blaster into his sword and charged right at the two MECH bots. The two enemies looked at each other and did the same, arming their daggers and headed to the former human. Soon enough, the three engaged in a fierce battle as the soldiers struck the recruit with everything they got while Jack used his sword and shield to block any possible attack.

Miko looked on and was pleased with her quick thinking move but then noticed the two MECH bots heading to her, feeling a little pissed about what she did. They all ran towards her with their daggers ready and were about to strike down on her. Miko smirked and switched her hammers into her pulse blasters, firing a wave to sounds at the two. They were caught in the blast and went soaring to the wall, smashing right through the two metal pillars that were holding the catwalk on the left. The soldiers that were on it were caught off guard as they fell to the ground floor and hit it hard enough so that they were unconscious. The two MECHicons got their helms hit by the broken catwalk so hard that they were in deep stasis. Miko looked on at the mess she made and couldn't believe that she did that.

Miko/Kaosu: "Whoa… Now that's metal!"

As she enjoyed the stunt she pulled, Altra was having a hard time with the other MECH bot. With his blaster gone, the enemy used his other servo to create a dagger and was swinging at the nurse. June used her dagger to try and block any attacks possible since she's not much of a fighter. The robotic soldier then used a strong attack high in the air and she was able to block it. But the force of the strike is causing sparks to fly as she held on with all she can. The MECHicon looked at her and had a sly smile underneath the mouth guard.

MECHicon 8: "What's wrong? Not much of a fighter are ya? I bet you are a lover. Maybe when I beat you up I will take you to someplace private for some real fun. If you know what I mean?"

That got June's attention as her anger started to boil and a cold sound coming from her voice box.

June/Altra: "I'm sorry, but I'm already MARRIED!"

Almost immediately, she drove her knee to the robot's gut created a blow big enough for him to cringe in pain. That gave Altra the opening she needed as she made a quick swing and sliced his dagger arm off, leaving him completely defenseless. Just as she was done with that, she thrusted back and forward to stab the MECH bot through the chest and into his spark chamber, terminating him in a matter of seconds. After she was finished taking care of the enemy, she felt bullets denting her armor. Looking up, she saw a small group of human soldiers on the right walkway shooting from above. Getting a little aggravated, she looked down to see the pillars that were holding the walkway up. Changing her dagger servo into a blaster, she targeted each pillar and shoots them off in high power. Each of the metal supports melted and caused the scaffolding to tilt and fall, sending the MECH goons with it. Once they all fell to the ground and the smoke cleared, all she saw was mangled metal with soldiers buried underneath it in a daze. Looking through the mess, she looked at the blaster she fired and smiled.

June/Altra: "You know what? Maybe this whole combat thing won't be so bad after all."

Heading back to Rodimus, he was making his own fun as he was taking on two MECHicons in a sword fight. He was blocking the enemies' attacks with his shield and sword while using his quick agility in avoiding other attempted strikes. He also managed to get a few swipes out his sword and scratched their armor. Still, he had to take them out fast before proceeding to Arcee. He looked for an opening needed to get red of them, but the robotic soldiers were thinking of another tactic. Placing their daggers to the ground, they swipe them fast causing sparks to fly out of it, temporarily blinding the former teenager. This gave them a chance to end it as they charged in and attack him one both ends, one at the top and the other at the bottom. Jack managed to regain his footing and sight as he blocked the high attack with his sword and a low attack with his shield. He held on with all of his might, as he has to do something before they cut both his head and his legs. Suddenly, without warning, two pulse blasts appeared the hit the two MECHicons, pushing them back. The two manage to get their footing in place and had no clue what happened or how it happened, but that gave Rodimus a shot to getting rid of them. He retracted his sword and shield into two blasters and locked on to the two targets. Charging them up, he fired at the two and hit them in the spark chambers, right on through their very sparks. Both of them froze at the moment before collapsing to the floor with their optics offline. Jack brought his blasters back into his servos and took a breather from the fight. Looking back he saw Kaosu, who was the one that pushed the others back, and she had a smiled on her face.

Miko/Kaosu: "Still need my help?"

Rodimus sighed to himself and told her what he thinks.

Jack/Rodimus: "No… But thanks anyways. Still, I had them on the ropes."

Miko placed her servo on her hip and had a sly smile on her.

Miko/Kaosu: "Uh-huh… Sure you did…"

Jack sighed and realized that Miko did have a point. If it wasn't for her, he would've been cut in different places. At least he was thankful for her help. June then came in to see if her son was okay. As she was checking up on him, he asked about his mother's fighting.

Jack/Rodimus: "Hey mom, I never thought there was a fighter in you. When did you learn to fight like that?"

Altra looked at her son and tried to explain herself.

June/Altra: "Well, remember when Ratchet was teaching me about Cybertronian medicine? Well he sort of taught me a few combat moves in between incase I get caught up in a battle. I got to admit, I think all that teaching really paid off."

Kaosu overheard the nurse's explanation and was a little nervous from it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Okay… Remind me never to get on your bad side."

June turned to the Japanese femme and smirked, knowing that the former teen got the message. Rodimus then shook his head and decided to focus on the mission.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let's get going! Are friends are still in danger and we need to save them before it's too late. I just hope that Raf reached the security station in time."

The other two nodded and left the entrance area, leaving behind a group of dead bots and some unconscious soldiers.

* * *

As they were leaving, Firewall was making a B-line to the security station. He made some swift turns and fast speeds through every hall in his vehicle form while using his electric blasters to shock any enemy bot or human that was in the way. Following his GPS on the screen he could tell that he was close and made a mad dash to the station.

* * *

Inside the security station, everyone was on high alert since the recruits came in and decided to raise some Hell. Vic took a look at one of the security cameras and noticed the Scion XB speeding past it, getting closer to their position. He gulped and was getting extremely nervous.

Vic: "Aw this is not good dudes, not good at all. One of them is getting close to our location. Almost like a bat out of Hell in Meat Loaf's words."

One of the soldiers then got up and came up with a solution.

MECH Soldier 21: "Then in that case, let's give our guest a warm welcome. Battle stations!"

Soon enough, every guard in the station grab their supped up rifle from the rack and armed themselves for the battle. One of the soldiers went next to Tucker and handed a rifle to him.

MECH Soldier 22: "Here! You might need this."

Tucker looked at the gun and waved his hands in protest.

Tucker: "Oh no… Forget it! There's no way I'm going to carry a firearm! I'm the head of security and a lover, not a fighter!"

MECH Soldier 22: "Well consider this a promotion. Now man up and defend the station!"

Tucker swallowed a huge lump and decided to take the gun or suffer the wrath of the Commander. Both he and Vic joined with the others and defended the entrance of the security station. So they stood there, outside of the entrance, waiting for the intruder to come with their rifles pointing at the end of the hallway. That was when they heard the sound of an engine running from the distance and was getting louder each passing second. Just then, an orange Scion XB careened to the left and entered another hallway, heading straight to the entrance to security. One of the guards spotted him and told the others to fire.

MECH Soldier 22: "There he is! Blast him!"

They all fired their blasters as bullets reach Raf's position, trying to slow him down. However Firewall managed to swerve and avoid the projectiles, especially near his tires. Both Tucker and Vic joined in on the gun fighting and was getting annoyed about this.

Vic: "I can't feel my hand dudes!"

Tucker: "Aw man… I knew I should've taken sniping practice a while back. I bet that sniper rifle would've been cool to use for taking out those tires."

Getting into position, he charged up his tazer blasters and fired on the group with a wide range. In a matter of seconds, everyone got themselves some electrical shocks and collapsed on the ground. With them out like a light, Raf transformed into his bipedal mode and jumped over the unconscious bodies, entering the security station with ease. Looking at all of the terminals and computers, he raised his arms up and opened up his two cables, penetrating the first too keyboards and letting wires entering through the keys. Looking at the data through his visor he groaned at the end result.

Raf/Firewall: "Great… Not enough data to gain access to all of the security system. If I had access to all of the computers, it would've been easier. Wish I had more cables so that it could help me with this problem."

Just as he said that, something surprising happened. On his back, four more holes opened up on the top and four more additional cables came out, wriggling around. Raf felt that and peeked at the back, seeing the additional cables that came to life. At first he was shocked, but then he smiled knowing that he has some additional help.

Raf/Firewall: "Now we're talking…"

Looking at all of the computers around him, he mentally talked to the cables on his back and they responded, having the four cables connect to the other computers and having the wires entering the keyboards. With that he looked into his visor and more data was streaming, gaining him full access to all of MECH's security. He felt good about his success that he failed to notice more soldiers and two MECHicons coming to his position. That was until he heard Rourke's voice from behind.

Commander Rourke: "He had breached the security station! Stop him!"

Raf turned his head to see the commander and his men heading to the recruit with two MECH bots behind them. Fearing of what's going to happen, he looked through the data and found the controls to the seal doors for the security station. With quick thinking, he accesses the door's controls and ordered it to seal up tight. Upon seconds, the doors started to close slowly before the enemy team could come. Rourke noticed that and he and his team stopped as the doors sealed up and the gears started to turn, sealing Rourke, the MECH team, and the unconscious soldiers Raf took care of out. The Commander looked on and didn't know what to do next, so he asked the soldier next to him if there is another way.

Commander Rourke: "Can you override these doors so we can get in?"

The soldier shook his head and gave him the bad news.

MECH Soldier 23: "I'm sorry commander, but the override switch is in the security station. And the doors are super thick that we don't have the weapons that can cut through it."

That got Rourke in a frenzy as he gave out orders in the angriest of tones ever.

Commander Rourke: "Oh really?! Get these men to the medical ward for an immediate recovery. Grab some detonated charges from the armory so we can blow these doors up."

He then looked up at a security camera at the entranceway and realized that Raf was watching them. He then pointed to that camera and gave them the final order.

Commander Rourke: "And someone turn these cameras off!"

Two soldiers nodded as they pointed their rifles at the camera and fired.

* * *

In the security station Raf was watching one of the security monitor windows and noticed the two soldiers shooting at the camera until the image went to static. Knowing that MECH is working hard to prevent the recruits for rescuing their friends, he contacted Jack through the comm., which thankfully had the scrambler on him so no Con won't trace it, and contacted Jack.

Raf/Firewall: "Rodimus, I'm in. But MECH is trying to pull all to stops from preventing me from finding the team. I'll find them as quick at I can."

* * *

In another section of the base, Jack, Miko, and June were running down the hall in hopes of looking for their friends. Rodimus already overheard Raf through the comm. and contact him back.

Jack/Rodimus: "Understood Firewall. Just start searching for Team Prime and show us the way."

Raf/Firewall: _"Roger that. There appears to be more activity going on in the floor below you. It's possible that Team Prime could be held captive down there."_

Jack/Rodimus: "Anyway for us to get down there?"

Raf/Firewall: _"Let me check on the digital map" … "There seems to be a huge elevator lift not far from your position. It looks like it's in the water transfer area. Take that lift while I search for the team."_

Jack/Rodimus: "Got it Raf. We'll get there as soon as we can."

Jack and the others started to follow the signs that said _'Water Transfer'_ with an arrow sign that pointed to the right. But the moment they turned to the right, they encountered a few MECHicons guarding the area. The moment they spotted the trainees, they armed their blasters and fired green projectiles at them. The group immediately took cover in a couple of well-placed crates and did some cover fire while Jack finished with the conversation.

Jack/Rodimus: "As soon as we get through with MECH's toys."

They continue to fire as they try reach the lift on time.

* * *

Back outside, Wheeljack was making his own fun. He was in his Jackhammer flying around and shooting at all of MECH's defenses. A couple of tanks and a small group of soldiers tried to take the ship down with rockets and bullets but Jackie's vehicle flew gracefully to avoid them. He then swoop down and used his blasters at the front to blast them all, blowing up all of the tanks in the process. Once he went up in the air, he was introduced to a couple of more MECH choppers and they started to shoot him down with EMP darts. The Jackhammer barrel rolled left and right to avoid those darts before getting on it's proper position. In the cockpit, Jackie smirked and found that to be quite amusing.

Wheeljack: "You call that shooting? I've seen Cons that are better shots then you!"

Once he got his targeting sensors on the choppers, he pushed the button to fire his blasters. The projectiles hit the choppers tails and caused them to loose control, forcing the pilots to jump out of their chopper and parachuted to the ground.

* * *

Back underground; a group of soldiers were at the entrance of the security station with detonated charges and plaster used to create a huge enough blast. They started to set all the stuff up as Commander Rourke waited for them to finish with two MECHicons standing behind him. Once everything is set, one of the soldiers placed a detonated timer in the middle of all the plaster and set the time for ten seconds. As he pressed the button to start, he turned to the commander and gave the thumbs up. The Commander nodded and orders the others to leave.

Commander Rourke: "Charges are in place. Everyone get into cover."

Soon enough everyone ran to the end of the hall opposite of the doors and took cover in the side corners along with Rourke and the robotic soldiers. As the timer hit zero, the explosives detonated and left behind nothing but a huge plum of smoke.

* * *

In the security station, Raf was trying frantically searching for Team Prime. As he was looking for them, he heard a huge explosion from the outside followed by the ground shaking. Turning back, he feared that MECH managed to bust down the doors.

* * *

Back on the other end, Rourke came out of cover and headed to the security doors with the rest of the soldiers following behind. They all thought that the blast from the charges would've destroyed the doors. But as the smoke cleared, all they saw were the doors still standing with scorch marks on the surface. The Commander wasn't happy about this as one of the soldiers approached him and explained the situation.

MECH Soldier 23: "Commander, it would seem that the doors are blast proof. It would be impossible to even get in there."

The Commander kept his cool and decided to take much more drastic steps.

Commander Rourke: "Indeed… Then it looks like we have to force the door open."

He looked up at the two MECHicons and nodded to begin. Those two bots then approached the door and activated their blasters. But instead of shooting those doors, they set it to low power, acting as flame cutters to help cut the doors open.

* * *

Back at the station, Raf looked at the doors that was dented and smoking at the bottom and was relieved that they haven't broken through yet. But he has to get to the task at hand before they do try to get in. Heading back to the computers and started to look for his friends.

* * *

Back to Rodimus, Kaosu, and Altra, they were at the entrance of water transfer but there were three MECHicons and a group of human soldiers defending the area. The three got into cover as Jack and his mother used their blasters to take them out. Though they got the bot's armor, they haven't hit them directly in the sparks. They quickly got into cover as bullets and blasters flew through the hall. June sighed and reminded how much she hates this to her son.

June/Altra: "Remember what I said about not getting involved in this alien war? I didn't expect it would be this serious!"

Jack turned to his mother and told her to not give up yet.

Jack/Rodimus: "We can't stop now! We need to reach that elevator and save our friends. If only we can break into their defenses."

Saying that, Miko smiled and let Jack know that she got it.

Miko: "Leave that to me…"

Quickly, she got out of cover and armed up her pulse blasters and shoulder mounted rocket launchers, firing both projectiles at the same time. The pulse blast hit the soldiers and the MECHicons as their bodies hit the metal doors, leaving them vulnerable enough for the rockets to strike them. Then there was an explosion that killed everyone in the missile's path and caused the doors to be blown wide open by the velocity of the blast. Both Darby's got out of cover and couldn't believe what the Japanese femme just did. Rodimus then turned to her and could tell that she was enjoying it.

Jack/Rodimus: "You're really comfortable with all of this are you?"

Miko looked back and smirked at her friend.

Miko/Kaosu: "You know it! I'm really liking this new body everyday!"

Jack rolled his optics around and looked at the destroyed doorway that's opened for them.

Jack/Rodimus: "At least we have our opening… Let's get in there before we run into some more trouble."

Quickly the three ran right through the exploded doors and entered a room that's filled with water coming through the pipes, transferring it to the lower levels. When they made a quick stop, they noticed the elevator right in front of them but blocking that was an M-1 Abrams tank that looks supped up and ready for battle. The recruits looked on and wondered what a tank was doing there. That was when the tank itself fired a huge bullet as it soared to them. Jack saw this coming and warned the others about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "DUCK!"

Immediately the three ducked down as the projectile flew past them. They immediately got up and looked back at the military vehicle that's defending the area.

Jack/Rodimus: "You've got to be kidding me! Who would decided to leave the tank inside the dam's waterways?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Well MECH paid no expense in security. Let's blast that thing before it goes another round."

Suddenly, and without warning, two holes on the ceiling and in between the lift's doors opened up and two automated gun torrents lowered themselves to target the intruders. June looked up at the torrents and realized that they were in serious trouble.

June/Altra: "I think we have bigger problems to worry about kids."

The others looked up at the torrent's drums started to roll. Jack noticed it as well and told the others to get behind him.

Jack/Rodimus: "Behind me!"

Both Altra and Kaosu went behind Rodimus as he activated his shield to protect himself and the femmes. The torrents then started to open fire as drums of bullets hit the shield and deflected from it. Then the cannon targeted the shield and opened fire, sending the shell right to them. Jack braced himself, thinking the blast might push them back. But strangely enough, the shield deflected the cannon shell and bounced up high in the air, hitting the ceiling and creating a pile of rubble next to the tank. Jack peeked up and saw what happened, realizing that the shield can deflect any projectile big, small, weak, or powerful. Looking at the defenses of the place, he came up with an idea and positioned his shield to the right alignment. The tank fired the next shot and the shield deflected it, sending it soaring to the torrent on the right and destroying it in seconds. It then fire again as Jack aligns his shield to the left, deflecting and sending the shell to the torrent on the right. With that destroyed, the person in the tank had it and decided to use full force on it. Setting it all up, he targeted the shield and opened fire on it. Jack positioned his shield and was ready for the final shot. The shell bounced off the shield and went soaring to the ceiling above the tank itself. When the explosion happened, the ceiling begins to crumble and buried the tank with crumbled concrete and twisted metal. Jack disengaged his shield and enjoyed what he was seeing as the femmes saw that themselves and were amazed by it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Wow… Just wow… Who'd thought that you have a strong defensive weapon Jack?"

Rodimus turned to her and was as surprised as her.

Jack/Rodimus: "I never thought I have a shield that can deflect rockets. Guess I have myself a shield that can protect me from everything."

Jack's mother went to her son and was pleased with what he did.

June/Altra: "You did a good job protecting us Jack. You're father would've been very proud of that."

Jack looked at his mother and nodded for her approval, then remembered about his father wanting him to protect his mom. He just wishes his father was there to see his bravery. But with the fact that he and his mother his Cybertronian and his father not knowing about it, it won't be easy in explaining it to him. As he was thinking about his dad, Raf was calling him on the comm.

Raf/Firewall: _"Rodimus, are you there? Do you read?"_

Rodimus shook that thought out of his head and contacted Firewall.

Jack/Rodimus: "I'm here Firewall, what's the situation."

* * *

Heading back to the security station, Raf was looking at the screens and explained to his friend what was going on.

Raf/Firewall: "Well Jack, I have some good news and bad news to tell you."

Jack/Rodimus: _"Okay… What's the good news?"_

Raf took a good look at one of the security screens that hasn't been turned off and saw Team Prime in a lab of some kind strapped in separate berths with scientists working on the terminals.

Raf/Firewall: "Well the good news is that I was able to locate our friends. It would seem my hunch was correct. The Director had the team in the lower second floor and are holding them in a lab of some kind."

Jack/Rodimus: _"And what is MECH doing to them?"_

The hacker took a closer look and noticed cables connected from their helms to the huge computer terminal on the other end. Curious about it, he answered Jack's question.

Raf/Firewall: "Don't know… But from what I can tell, it looks like they are extracting information from them."

Miko/Kaosu: _"Hold up! You mean they're forcing our friends to talk?"_

Raf/Firewall: "Not forcing them Miko. It almost looks like they are downloading something out of their heads. Hard to tell by the video feed but it looks like they're trying to gather Autobot Intel by force."

June/Altra: _"That doesn't sound good."_

Jack/Rodimus: _"Then we have to get down there before the Director gets everything he needs!"_

Raf/Firewall: "Wait! There's more to this then we thought."

Jack/Rodimus: _"You mean what MECH are doing to our friends isn't the bad news."_

Raf then turned to another security monitor that was showing a different scene. In that video was both Sari and Sam, feeling a little scared about where they were and wanted to know what's going on out there. He then started to explain the bad news.

Raf/Firewall: "It would seem that MECH has two prisoners in their possessions. Two young teens, a boy and a girl."

Jack/Rodimus: _"What? Why would MECH capture two teenagers?"_

Raf/Firewall: "Don't really know. Probably a bargaining chip or they witnessed something during MECH's operation. Either way, they are in grave danger."

* * *

Back at the water transfer, Jack was now worried about this mission. Not only does he and the others have to save Arcee and the others, but also rescue the prisoners MECH has before they do something worse to them. So he asked his friend where they were located.

Jack/Rodimus: "Do you know where MECH is keeping them?"

Raf/Firewall: _"Hold on for a second."_ … _"Says here on the digital map that they are being held captive in a holding area of some kind on this floor. But it's on the other end of the facility and impossible to reach giving the security MECH has."_

Miko overheard that through her comm. and knew she has no other choice. Looking at Rodimus, she told him what she's going to do."

Miko/Kaosu: "I'll go…"

The former young teen looked at his friend and was surprised at what she said.

Jack/Rodimus: "What?"

Miko/Kaosu: "I said I'll go rescue the prisoners."

Now that got the young Mech's attention as he protested to her about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, that's suicidal. You expect to go down there alone without regard of MECH's forces that are guarding the area. We need to work together!"

Kaosu placed her servos on her hips and argued back.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well I don't think it's wise to leave our friends to suffer the way they are while we journey to the other end to free the captives. We need to pull the old divide and conquer routine. You and your mom will go rescue Team Prime while I go to the other end and free those people. Besides, I'm the only one with an alt mode of a very fast sports car. You're alts would only slow down the mission. What do you say Jack? We're low on time!"

Jack listened in and was surprised by what she just said. For the first time in a long time, she was actually making the most sense. Splitting up seems like the only option left if they are to rescue the team and the prisoners. Even June was amazed by the Japanese femme's decision and turned to his son for an agreement.

June/Altra: "She does have a point Jack."

Jack nodded and responded back to Firewall on the comm.

Jack/Rodimus: "Indeed she does… Raf, we got this. Miko will head to the holding area to rescue to hostages while mom and I get to Team Prime."

Raf/Firewall: _"Understood. Contact me if you're in a pinch. I might be able to assist you from here. Out."_

Jack disabled his comm. and looked towards the Wrecking Cadet for a good luck speech.

Jack/Rodimus: "Be careful in getting there. There's no telling what you would be facing."

Miko just smirked and reminded him what she had been through in the past.

Miko/Kaosu: "Are you forgetting something Jack? I was the one that destroyed Hardshell before he terminated Wheeljack. I can handle myself."

And with that, she turned around while transforming into her McLaren sports car mode, speeding out of the room and through the hallways. Altra then turned to Jack and asked about her.

June/Altra: "You're sure that she's all right by herself."

Rodimus turned to her mother and warmly smiled to her.

Jack/Rodimus: "She's a little cocky, I know, but her spark is in the right place. Now c'mon, let's rescue our friends."

June nodded as both she and Jack entered the lift of the elevator. Once Jack pushed a button for bots, the doors closed in front of them and they made their decent to the second lower level.

* * *

Down one of the halls, a small group of soldiers were on high alert after the recruits have infiltrated the facility. As they were patrolling the area, they heard the sound of an engine getting louder and louder by the second. Turning back, they all saw a Miko's McLaren speeding towards them while one of the soldiers alerted them about it.

MECH Soldier 24: "Hit the dirt!"

The all jumped out of the way as the speeding sports car drove past them. They all then got up and fired on the car, but didn't faze her at all. The soldier then looked on and could tell where she was going and told one of the soldiers on the situation.

MECH Soldier 24: "Contact the Commander, tell him we got a situation."

* * *

Meanwhile Rourke and his group watched on as the two MECHicons were wield cutting the locked doors to the security station just to open it. One of the soldiers then picked up something on his comm. and turned to the Commander for the news.

MECH Soldier 23: "Commander, we have a problem."

The commander turned to him and wondered about that problem.

Commander Rourke: "What is it soldier?"

MECH Soldier 23: "A patrolling unit spotted a McLaren sports cars speeding past them and heading to the others side of the facility's floor. We have reason to believe that this car is heading to the holding area. Also the unit that was suppose to protect the main freight elevator hasn't come in yet and we fear that the intruders must've infiltrated that place."

The Commander thought this through and realized what the recruits are planning.

Commander Rourke: "So they're planning to divide and concur. How clever… It's obvious that the Directors test subjects are trying to rescue both the Autobots and the prisoners at the same time. They need to be stopped no matter what the cost. Have security in the second lower level upgraded to code red, let all MECH soldiers and bots posted from the lift at the water storage to the lab where the Autobots are being interrogated. We cannot let the infiltrators reach them. Also have expanded security in and around the holding area. The other intruder cannot free the prisoners."

The soldier nodded and responded.

MECH Soldier 23: "Understood commander. It shall be done."

Rourke then turned to the two MECHicons cutting the doors opened and told them to keep doing it.

Commander Rourke: "You two, keep cutting the doors. Do not stop until you force that door open and that hacker is out, on the floor, and dead."

The two bots nodded and went back to cutting the door down. Rourke then turned around and left the security entrance as the MECH goon asked where he was going.

MECH Soldier 23: "Commander? Where are you going?"

Without looking back, the commander answered his question.

Commander Rourke: "Back to Project Metamorphosis. There's a task I must attend to."

* * *

One level down, scientists were working continuously as Intel about Cybertronian tech is being copied and downloaded from Team Prime's processors and into MECH's mainframe. Sumdac looked at the progress windows as it went up to 30% and climbing. He then looked up and the ceiling and wondered what went on up there. After the unexpected shake, he thought it would be help. Just then, he overheard a scientist barking orders.

MECH Scientist 2: "Listen up people, we got some uninvited guest coming. This lab needs to be protected at all costs. Everyone prep up and prepare for the unexpected."

Soon enough, scientists had their standard MECH pistols out and load them up incase of a coming battle. The scientist then handed the professor a pistol of his own and told him to have this.

MECH Scientist 2: "You better take this Professor Sumdac. You gonna need this incase of emergencies."

The professor looked down at the pistol and back at the scientist to protest.

Professor Sumdac: "I'm sorry, but I'm not into violence. Please don't get me wrong."

The scientist shook his head and chuckled underneath his mask.

MECH Scientist 2: "No it's a little too late for that professor."

He then placed the gun next to him and went back to work. Issac just looked at the gun and was now a little worried. He just hopes that whoever's coming to rescue him and Autobots better be here soon, unless he has no choice then to shoot them.

* * *

Down on the next lower floor, a few scientists were working on Project Metamorphosis where Private Jenkins was going to take part in the final phase. So far he went through with the first and second stages and is ready for the last. The green liquid that was once him was resting on the berth with the human molding and was ready to be brought back to life. One of the scientists looked at the liquid and prepared for the final procedure.

MECH Scientist 3: "The molding has been filled and the prods are at the ready. Stand by for the final stage."

The other scientist, Doc, looked at the molding and checked the screen for final systems check.

Doc: "Roger that. No anomalies have been detected and all systems are a go. Preparing the put a shock to the system."

The scientist turned to Doc and was a little confused.

MECH Scientist 3: "Excuse me?"

Doc turned to him and explained what he meant.

Doc: "It's a phrase I got from a great cartoon back in the day. You would enjoy it. I think it's Static something…"

The scientist groaned as he went on with his work.

MECH Scientist 3: "You and your dumb cartoons… When will you ever grow up?"

Just then, the door leading out of the lab opened and Commander Rourke walked into the lab. Though one of the lifts have been compromised, there are human elevators that would take him down to the Project Metamorphosis laboratory. He then approached to two scientists and asked about Jenkins.

Commander Rourke: "Status report. What of Private Jenkins's condition?"

Doc turned to the commander and explained to him about the next test subject.

Doc: "Ah Commander! We didn't know you were coming. Well, Private Jenkins is doing very well, with the exception that he is now a puddle of green goo. We've even got the weapons schematics and vehicle mode chosen by him downloaded into his genetic structure and are ready to bring him back to life."

Rourke nodded and decided to take this to the extreme.

Commander Rourke: "Excellent. Boost the power levels to 150%."

Doc looked at him and was concerned about that.

Doc: "Excuse me commander?"

Rourke peeked at the head doctor and told him again.

Commander Rourke: "You heard me Doc. Boost the power to 150% so Jenkins here will be ready for the coming battle."

The other scientist over heard that and turned to the Commander for an explanation.

MECH Scientist 3: "Commander, I don't think that is a good idea. The Director specifically told us to keep the power levels up to 110%. We amplify those levels any higher and there would be some serious consequences."

The Commander turned to the scientist and gave him a little reassurance.

Commander Rourke: "As far as I'm concerned, I need this soldier to be at the top of his game. We have intruders that broke into this facility and are attempting to free those we have obtained for some time. We need to pull all the stops if we wish to succeed. Now boost those power levels NOW!"

But the scientist didn't listen as he gave his head commander another warning.

MECH Scientist 3: "Have you even listened to what I said? Raising levels that high will lead to permanent fractures of the patient. If we fail to follow proper protocols, then god knows what's gonna happen!"

Rourke then decided to make matters into his own hands. He took his pistol out of his holster, aimed it at the scientist, and fired without looking, killing the employee right in the head. The other science teams looked on and were horrified behind their masks. Even Doc saw this with his own eyes and turned to the commander for a proper response to that.

Doc: "That's cold man… Really cold…"

Rourke then turned to him and told him what's about to happen.

Commander Rourke: "It will get extremely cold if you don't follow orders Doc. Now increase power levels to 150% or join your colleague there."

Doc swallowed a lump and was now nervous, knowing that he has no choice but to follow the commander's orders down to the letter.

Doc: "Yes sir… Right away sir…"

He then went on the controls and gain access to the power level input, increasing it to 150%. Once it's all set, he begins the final countdown.

Doc: "Power levels increased. Safety locks disabled. Electrical systems are online. Beginning final phase in three, two, one."

He then pressed the execute key on the console and the final phase has begun. Nodes were placed over the glowing puddle as sparks came out of it. Soon enough, lightning struck on the puddle and continued to multiply by ten folds. In a matter of seconds, all the lightning sucked right in and exploded in a wave of energy. Thankfully the berths were in a separate room with thin glass between the scientist and the equipment, or they would've suffered the incident that happened to the first test subjects. When the lightning stopped and the glass cracked a little, the Commander looked on intently to see if that worked. So far all he saw was a glowing, smoking pool of goo. But then, the energon like water started to bubble and expand, meaning that the next MECHicon was going to be reborn. The pool exploded as wires started to spread followed by an exoskeleton suit, gears, weapon mods, T-Cog, spark chamber and spark, protoform skin, and armor. But this MECHicon was way different then the others. He started to grow and expand, looking more vicious and dangerous. The science team stepped back and was now scared at the brute while the Commander looked on with a pleasing smile on his face. The bot started to yell out loud as the glass shattered from the loud noise and the lights began to flicker.

Commander Rourke: "Now we're talking."

Doc just looked on dumbfounded and didn't like what he was seeing.

Doc: "Oh man… I got a bad feeling that this won't end well."

* * *

**Chapter fourteen, finished. Yeah I know it's a pretty long one, but I need to add the hardcore action within the chapter just to keep things exciting. Got to warn ya though, next chapter could be action packed and the scenes will switch from one action scene to another. I just have to see what I can do with Wheeljack being that I used him on this chapter for a bit. Speaking of which, in the next chapter the recruits are on a rescue mission of their own as they save not only Team Prime, but Sumdac's daughter and her friend. Will they save them in time? And what about the newest MECHicon? This is something you don't want to miss out on. Please Review.**


	15. Trapped

**Okay, before I begin there are a few things I have to get off my chest. So the third season ended along with the TFP series. Now I still haven't seen it yet cause of my promise, but looking into Wikipedia and the guests reviews, I would say that the Decepticons were defeated, Megatron's dead in the hands of Bumblebee (WTF), and the Autobots went back to Cybertron to help rebuild. So yeah, basically a happy ending all around. Too bad though that this lasted for thirteen episodes. Should've wished it was a little longer then that. Still, at least Transformers Prime is now over. Or is it? See I checked Wiki and found out that there is going to be another Transformers Prime called Rise of the Predacons. Now I don't know if this is going to be a mini movie or another new season since the third was promised to be the last one. But all I know is that it would involve the battle to be taken place on Cybertron and Unicron would take over Megatron's body. Got to admit, it's going to be on epic showdown.**

**Also, though I now have 23 reviews (more on guest reviews) and 1,227 hits on the last chapter, there have been people asking me about my story updates that are taking longer then others. Well allow me to be the first to explain why they're taking so long. See, when I'm starting a chapter, most of the work sort of involves action scenes that I need to come up with some really good ideas. Also I have a real life outside of writing stories as I have to do some work, college, and the occasional vacations during the summer. But hey, at least this was better then my other stories. Trust me, I had a few that took much, MUCH, longer then this and it wasn't an easy feat. Just hope in the coming future that I don't go down that path again. On to chapter fifteen of my own season three of Transformers Prime. The recruits split up to rescue both Team Prime and the prisoners. Will they be able to get them out in time? This is going to get extremely good.**

* * *

**Chapter Notes**

**I will be adding another Red vs. Blue character into this chapter and this character is from season five. And before anyone answers it, no it's not the little alien. Let's just say it's a woman that likes to see things in black and white.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Trapped

_Ratchet's Journal Entry_

_April 21, 20XX_

_Well this has been one slaggin solar cycle. MECH's understanding of our biology is really at it's peak. They now have actual cybertronians of their own thanks to this project the Director created. It's bad enough that we have Decepticons hunting us down, but now these MECHicons are going to make things much more complicated for us. But that isn't the worst of them all._

_Team Prime was suppose to head to MECH's new base of operations so they would destroy the invention that can turn humans into our own kind. But as they were on the mission, Arcee contacted me about something that is important until she got cut off. It's strongly obvious that MECH have captured them and doing Primus knows what to them. To make matters worse, Wheeljack and the new recruits are going to come and rescue them? This is absolutely insane! Suicidal even._

_Having an Autobot Wrecker that doesn't follow orders is bad enough, but having four former humans that spent an Earth week in training is far worse! But I had no choice in the matter since the lives of Team Prime are in grave danger. Loosing our leader is one thing, but loosing the rest of the team could be devastating, especially with Earth being threatened by Megatron. I just hope that they get the team out of there in time. Because if they don't succeed, then Primus help us._

* * *

In MECH's base at Morrison Dam, every soldier is on high alert. Ever since Wheeljack flew in and raised hell outside every soldier and MECHicon are at their post as the Director's first test subjects have entered the base and are trying to reach Team Prime. Down at the second floor, everyone was under constant watch as they waited for the intruders to come. In on of the water storage area, four MECHicons and a dozen soldiers were at the lift where Rodimus and Altra are coming down. One of those soldiers turned to the others and gave them an order.

MECH Soldier 25: "All right listen up! The intruders have already breached the first floor and are on the way to the second floor. Under direct orders from Commander Rourke, we have to stop the intruders from reaching the Autobots by any means necessary. Now we know that two of the intruders our on the way here. We are going to give them a surprise that they won't forget."

He then took his hand out and showed them a grenade with lines that were glowing and started explaining it.

MECH Soldier 25: "This is an electro magnetic pulse grenade, or E.M.P. for short. Once thrown, it will create a pulse that can temporarily shut off any electrical equipment within short distances. That will include those bots the Director created. Of course that needs to be thrown in the right distance where the intruders will located. Throw it too far, you miss. Throw too short; you get caught in the blast. The E.M.P. grenade can be dangerous to us, so don't let it go-"

Simmons: "Oh, you mean the EMP."

The soldier stopped what he's saying and turned to Simmons, who was in the group along with a recovered Caboose right next to him.

MECH Soldier 25: "Excuse me private Simmons?"

Simmons: "You're talking about the EMP grenade right? Because I got a little confused by the name. Hell most of the staff called it that."

Caboose then joined in on the conversation and explained to the soldier in the simplest of matter.

Caboose: "Yeah… I like that name better. Easier to understand."

The soldier looked at the two and was confused by this, so he tried to explain it himself.

MECH Soldier 25: "Um… Yeah, well it's not called EMP you two. It's actually called E.M.P., which is short for Electro Magnetic Pulse."

Simmons: "That's right, and it's spells a word. And what is that word."

Caboose: "EMP."

Simmons turned to Caboose and thanked him on that answer.

Simmons: "That's correct."

MECH Soldier 25: "But EMP's not even a word!"

Simmons then looked back to the soldier and explained that it is a word.

Simmons: "Well, it is in our dictionary. And it's the dictionary in our heads."

Caboose: "The dictionary I read has many pictures in them. They are very pretty."

The MECH goon face palmed himself and shook his head.

MECH Soldier 25: "How come other squads get all the best men while I get all the retards."

Just then, they heard the sound of the lift descending to their position. One of the soldiers heard that and warned the one leading the squad.

MECH Soldier 26: "We got company coming down!"

The leading soldier looked on at the lift's doors and nodded in approval.

MECH Soldier 25: "Forget what I said. We got some guests coming down! Prepare to give them a warm welcome!"

Immediately, all the soldier and MECHicons got into position and aimed their weapons at the elevator's doors. They waited for a few short seconds until the lift on the other end came to a stop. The moment the doors started to open, the soldier leading the group barked out the command.

MECH Soldier 25: "Open fire!"

Immediately, bullets the green energy projectiles came out of their guns, hoping to terminate the intruders trapped in the lift. But as the doors opened fully, they were surprised to see an energy shield deflecting those bullets. That shield belonged to Rodimus as he was protecting himself and his mom from the incoming attack. He then got his blaster armed and opened fire on the group. So far, he managed to take out one of the MECHicons by aiming it at the spark chamber, but there were still more around. He turned to his mother and asked for a favor.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom, a little help here please."

June looked to her son and sighed to herself.

June/Altra: "Even as an Autobot, you still need my help."

She changed both her servos into her blasters and gave Jack a little covering fire. With the additional firepower, the MECH army didn't stand a chance and immediately went into cover fire behind a couple of pillars and crates. The soldier holding the E.M.P. grenade knew now is the time to take them out so he armed it and wind it back. But a stray shot from Altra's blaster knocked the grenade out of his hand and skidded to the floor. Caboose noticed it and picked it up, examining the grenade. Simmons though saw this and freaked out, telling Caboose to throw.

Simmons: "Shit! That grenade is armed! Throw the grenade Caboose! Throw it!"

Caboose looked at Simmons and realized that the grenade is armed, so he threw it. Unfortunately, he crouched behind the crate and threw the grenade, causing it to hit the surface wall and landed on the ground below him. Simmons saw it all go down and was completely speechless, saying something that would be the most embarrassing thing to say.

Simmons: "That was the worst throw, ever. Of all time."

Caboose looked at him and apologized on that unexpected throw.

Caboose: "Sorry. Someone put a crate in my way."

Before anyone could react to that, the grenade exploded, sending electrical pulses around the blast radius. The blast itself knocked out all of the soldiers while the mechanized robots short-circuited and fell to the floor, going into a deep stasis. Both Jack and June saw this, completely unfazed by the blast, and were in total disbelief about the scene.

June/Altra: "Did they just…"

Rodimus blinked his optics once and agreed with his mom.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yep. They sure did."

He placed his digit on the comm. in his helmet and contacted Raf.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall, we have reached the second lower level. But it would seem whoever put the security here didn't teach them the proper procedure."

* * *

In the security room on the first lower level, Raf, or Firewall, saw that on one of the security cameras and laughed about it a little bit.

Raf/Firewall: "Yes, I could see that. Too bad Miko didn't get the chance in watching it herself. She would feel so jealous."

Jack/Rodimus: _"True that. But let's stick with the main task at hand. Do you know where Team Prime is being held captive?"_

Raf used his cables to gain access to the security cameras and digital map of the entire dam. Checking the video feed of the Autobots still in stasis and having their data downloading into MECH's databanks, he found the location and told Jack about it.

Raf/Firewall: _"I got it! Looks like the Director is keeping them in one of the storage rooms they've modified as a laboratory. Looking into the map, they are in Storage 12. Just follow the signs but remain cautious. Security is tight from where you are to the lab and they won't hesitate in taking you down."_

Jack/Rodimus: "I'll keep that in mind. What about Miko? What's her progress?"

Raf used his cables to find and gain access to any camera that hasn't been shot down on the first lower floor. Looking at the cameras, he saw a McLaren with purple and pink flame highlights speeding past a hall, running down a few MECHicons in the process. He smiled and gave his friend the good news.

Raf/Firewall: _"Found her! Looks like she's already at the halfway point to the holding cells and making her own fun. I'm certain she will reach the prisoners shortly."_

Jack/Rodimus: "That's good to hear…"

Suddenly, a loud bang came from behind and Firewall turned around to see what it was. All he saw was the door that MECH is trying to bust through as sparks came from the bottom sides of the metal door. Jack overhead the loud bang and asked what it was.

Jack/Rodimus: "Raf, what was that?"

The hacker sighed and responded as best as he could.

Raf/Firewall: _"Just a group of MECH soldiers trying to bust down the door I locked up to keep them out. I don't think they took it too kindly. You might want to hurry up with the rescue because I don't know how long those doors will last."_

* * *

Down at the second floor beneath the dam, Jack nodded and finished with his conversation with his friend.

Jack/Rodimus: "Understood Raf. Just hang in there for a little while longer. Signing out."

As he signed out, he turned to his mother and told him the situation.

Jack/Rodimus: "We got the location of the team, but we better hurry. Sounds like Firewall is having trouble of his own. We better rescue the Autobots and head back quick before MECH takes him in."

The two then walked down to the door on the other end, passing the unconscious human and bots along the way. As they were walking, June was just as worried as his son.

June/Altra: "I just hope that Raf will be okay. I could imagine what I'm suppose to say to his mom is he gets killed."

That got Jack turning to her and had an odd look on his face.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom, Raf is now a robot a few stories tall with metal armor and weapons. How are you going to explain THAT to Raf's mom, let alone visiting her looking like that."

Altra looked down at her Cybertronian form and realized that he does have a point. That's when she got an idea.

June/Altra: "Maybe I should call her up on the phone."

Rodimus rolled his optics around and thought that was a little stupid.

Jack/Rodimus: "Okay, kind hearted idea but still not helping."

The two then approached the metal doors and waited for them to open. As they opened fully, they were immediately ambushed by a group of MECHicons firing their blasters at them. They then took cover and fired back but it appears to be too fruitless.

June/Altra: "There's just no end to these things is there?"

Jack took a peek and noticed some steam pipes in between the group of bot soldiers. He turned back to his mom and told her about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Judging by the heat MECH is packing would mean that we are on the right trail. We have to follow the signs to Storage 12 cause that's where our friends are being held captive. Think you can shoot those pipes for me."

The nurse looked at the steam pipes on both sides and turned back to her son with a smile.

June/Altra: "I think I can do that."

Arming her blasters, she targeted the pipes and opened fire. The projectiles hit the pipes and let steam came out of it. The group was blinded by the steam and couldn't see a thing with their visionary optics. With them distracted, Jack smirked and was ready for his attack.

Jack/Rodimus: "Follow me mom!"

So Jack got out of cover with his sword and shield out and ran through the steam, cutting up MECHicons by the arms and legs so they won't strike back while June followed him to where the Autobots are being kept.

* * *

Outside, there were MECH soldiers and MECH bots being overrun by a single ship that was wasting away at their defenses. The Jackhammer was soaring through the air, diving down to strike on any enemy that gets in the way. Just then, four trucks came in carrying a bed that's loaded with anti aircraft missile cannons. The cannons then lifted high into the air and targeted the stray ship. One of the soldiers's had his binoculars and looked at the Jackhammer. Once it was in range, he gave the order.

MECH Soldier 27: "Target in sight! Knock him out of the sky!"

Immediately, the launching ports opened up and multiple tacking missiles came out, heading straight to the flying ship. Wheeljack saw it coming and used his Jackhammer to steer clear of the rockets, using any maneuver he learned during the war for Cybertron. With a lot of flips, twists, corkscrews, and barrel rolls, he avoided every projectile as they collided with each other, exploding in the background. Jackie looked on and laughed at their attempt.

Wheeljack: "You humans are making this too easy for me. At least give me something more challenging."

He then targeted the missile trucks and pushed a button, shooting his own missiles at them. The drivers quickly got out of their vehicles just seconds before the rockets hit the trucks and blew them up on impact. As soon as they exploded, five MECHicons sped to that position and transformed into their bot modes, switching to their blasters and firing away on the Jackhammer. As all that was going on, Sarge was at a nearby outpost, talking to the Director about the situation through a high tech ham radio.

Sarge: "I don't think you understand the situation we have sir. We are hitting everything but the kitchen sink at the ship and nothing seems to work. We're running out of resources and are in need of some serious firepower."

The Director heard the sergeant's plea and responded through the other end.

Director: _"I can understand your concern sergeant, but I'm afraid I can't help you with that. You see, I've already sent some reinforcements to guard the lower levels in an attempt to prevent the intruders inside from freeing the captives and I cannot waste more of my men on the outside."_

Sarge: "Well I don't know what military term is used in this situation, but we're royally screwed! What do you want us to do?"

Director: _"I don't know! Just use your imagination for all I care! Now if you excuse me, I have to return to Project Metamorphosis. Apparently something happened with Private Jenkins and I need to see if there were some complications."_

The radio then turned off as Sarge groaned to himself.

Sarge: "Use my imagination? All I can think of is using my shotgun on Grif, and I don't think that will work either!"

One of the soldiers approached the sergeant and told him what happened.

MECH Soldier 28: "Sarge! That ship is becoming troublesome for us! We lost half of our armaments and ordinance and we don't know how long we can hold it off much longer. What are we going to do?"

The sergeant thought about this and decided that enough is enough. He turned to that soldier and told him what to do.

Sarge: "Looks like we are going to bring in the big guns. Prepare the EMP cannon…"

The soldier looked at him oddly and rephrases that for him.

MECH Soldier 28: "You mean the E.M.P. cannon Sarge?"

Sarge just starred at him and was a little confused.

Sarge: "What? There's another name for the EMP cannon?"

* * *

Back in the base, Miko was racing on the first lower level, reaching the holding area where the hostages are located. In her vehicle mode, she sped down one hallway reaching the end when a MECHicon was blocking the way with his blaster firing. Seeing that, she pushed down the crank shaft and pressed on the brake hard, causing her to drift and turn to the right and knocking the solider off his feet. With him knocked out, she was in the clear as she followed the signs to the prisoners. As she sped to the hall, she spotted a self made blockade out of desks and crates with six soldiers and four MECH bots having their weapons aimed at her. The Japanese femme looked on and couldn't help but to laugh at their defenses.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh please… You think that is going to stop me?"

The tops of her hood opened on both ends and her sonic pulse blasters popped up and extended to their proper sides. Charging the power, she blasted a huge wave of sound at the barricade, pushing that and the enemy back to the end of the hall. With them out of the way, Kaosu went past them and turned to the left where the holding area is located.

Miko/Kaosu: "That was too easy…"

* * *

Back to the security station, Raf was looking at the action on the many monitors to see the recruit's progress. So far they managed to get through with the small batches, but it's getting a little more intense. He had to do something to help them or they won't be able to reach the others in time. Looking back at the door, he could tell that the MECH soldiers have already cut 25% of the door and it will be a matter of time until they bust through that door and take him out. He sighed and hopes that that doesn't happen as he went back to the controls. With all of the cables connected to the keyboards, he checked to see what to do from where he is. Checking the data banks, he noticed that he has access to all the gun torrents within the facility. This might give the others the edge they need. He used his hacking ability and the cables connected to his back and wrist to breach through all the firewalls and gaining access to the torrent's schematics.

* * *

Back to Jack and June, they were just about halfway there to Storage 12. So far they've managed to knock out some human soldiers and terminated many MECHicons along the way. Yet still the odds of reaching Team Prime is halfway impossible. Rodimus used his sword to block a dagger attack from one MECH robot and held on to it for a few good seconds. He then give a knee jab to the enemies gut just to stun him and then did a quick 360 to behead the bot. With the MECHicon's head gone, it staggered for a few short seconds before dropping dead. Altra was using both of her scalpel daggers as she and another MECH bot were clashing with each other in a dagger-to-dagger sword fight. Though they were evenly matched, the nurse was the less experienced, which gave the soldier the advantage. Almost immediately, he gave the medical femme a bitch slap on his back servo. June was stunned and landed on the ground face first. The robotic soldier approached her and pulled his dagger servo back to finish the job. But before he could do that, a couple of blaster shots came out of nowhere and hit him a couple of time. It didn't kill him, but made him stagger a bit. Looking at the direction of the blast he saw Rodimus with his blaster in front of him, threatening him.

Jack/Rodimus: "Get away from my mother you sick slaghead!"

The MECHicon was a little furious and switched his dagger to a blaster, ready to shoot him down. Before he could even pull the trigger though, June recovered from the slap and trusted her scalpel dagger to the crotch area. The MECHicon felt that serious blow and cringed in pain, even though he doesn't have much of extremities anymore since he's now a robot. This gave the teenage Mech the chance to finish it as he pointed his blaster to the enemy's spark chamber, charged it, and opened fire. The power of the blast hit the MECH bot square in the chest and shut him down completely. With him taking care off, Jack hurried to his mother and offered a servo to her. She looked up and took that hand, getting herself up. Dusting herself, she took a breather and couldn't take it anymore.

June/Altra: "That's it… I take back what I said before. The moment we save the Autobots, I'm going back to the base and help Ratchet out for the rest of my life!"

Rodimus sighed to himself and could tell that his mother isn't cut out for this.

Jack/Rodimus: "I can understand that. But let's focus on the task at hand. We're almost there."

As soon as he said that, three more MECHicons rushed in the very direction they were going and blocked their path.

MECHicon 9: "We got them! Take them out!"

They got their blasters set to kill and started to fire at them. Jack got his shield up and protects him and his mother while using his blaster hand for cover fire. Just he was doing that, Altra looked up and noticed the ceiling opening up to reveal another gun torrent ready to shoot them from above.

June/Altra: "Jack!"

That got the teenage Mech's attention as he looked up at the torrent. With the drum starting to spin and was ready to fire, Rodimus prepared for the incoming attack. But strangely enough, the torrent turned to the enemy bots and opened fire on them. They were unprepared for that as they got their bodies filled with armor piercing rounds, ripping them to bits and killing them through their sparks. With them dead, the drum stopped turning and ceased fire, leaving the Darby's looking on in disbelief. Jack disengaged his shield and was just as bewildered as his mother.

Jack/Rodimus: "What just happened here?"

As soon as he asked that question, he heard a familiar voice on his comm. channel.

Raf/Firewall: _"Like the added firepower I gave you Rodimus?"_

Realizing what he heard, he placed his digit to his audio receptor and responded back in surprise.

Jack/Rodimus: "Raf? Tell me that was you, was it?"

* * *

Back to the comm. station, Raf smirked and answered his question.

Raf/Firewall: "Indeed it was Jack. I've managed to bypass the system that operates the torrents. Now I can assist you on reaching the team."

Jack/Rodimus: _"Oh Raf, you are a lifesaver!"_

Raf/Firewall: "Oh don't mind me. I'm just doing what I do best. Now I suggest you move, you got more MECHicons heading your way."

Jack/Rodimus: _"Got it Firewall, we're on the way. Maybe you should give Miko and assist since she is reaching the prisoners."_

The hacker looked to one of the monitors that haven't been shot at yet and saw Kaosu driving by and was at top speeds. He smirked and told Jack that it was all right.

Raf/Firewall: "Oh I don't think that's necessary. It looks like she's doing all right without my help."

* * *

Back to the Wrecker Cadet, she was getting closer and closer to her goal. But the closer she got, the more danger she encountered. The defenses kept getting harder and harder by the second and it would seem that the enemy is doing all they can to put the breaks on her. Still, they were no match for the Japanese femme as she used all in her possession. There were two torrents protecting the end of the hallway and three more MECHicons in front of her. They all fired at her in order to put a stop to her rampage. But that didn't slow her down one bit as she armed her weapons to strike back. She first opened her trunk in the back to show off her rockets launchers and fired her missiles at the torrents, blowing them up on impact. She then got her pulse blaster out and fired a wave at the bot soldiers, knocking them on the wall behind them and left them in stasis. With that cleared, she drifted to the right and entered yet another hallway. Just as she was driving down that hall, she spotted another M-1 Abrams tank blocking her path. It moved its cannon to her position and opened fire. Kaosu did a quick break and turn, letting smoke came out of the tires. She then transformed into her bot mode as the rocket shell missed her mid transformation. She then skidded to the tank with her feet sparking on the floor and waited for the right moment to strike. As she was a few feet away, she jumped and did a corkscrew over tank in slo-mo as it fired another shell at her, completely missing her. With her gravity hammers in place, she went to the back end of the tank and hit it on the bumper, sending it soaring in the air and landing roof first with its tendrils sticking out. She then rolled over on the floor, transforming mid way into her sports car and went back in speeding to her destination. Looking back at the hardware, she knew that she was heading to the right direction.

Miko/Kaosu: "Okay, I'm definitely getting close. Let's hope the others are having better luck."

She raced her way through a few more defenses as she was almost reaching the hostages.

* * *

Outside, Wheeljack was doing all he could with the outside forces. A few more choppers came up and used their bulleted machine guns and winged missiles to take it down. Still, it had all been proven useless as the Jackhammer avoided them with the greatest of ease. He then went to targeting the enemy copters and shot a few of them down while the others scattered. But as this was going on, a huge vehicle came in that's ten times bigger then a tank and had a huge electrical cannon sticking out at the top. It was obvious that it was the E.M.P. cannon used to take out any jet or helicopter, and the Jackhammer was no exception. Three soldiers were at the controls, standing by to fire while Sarge looked on at the dogfight in the air and waited for the right moment to strike. One of the soldiers turned to him and asked to begin the firing procedure.

MECH Soldier 19: "Sarge, E.M.P. cannon is in place. Shall we begin to fire?"

Sarge looked on intently and told them what to do.

Sarge: "Lock on to the target and charge up the cannon. Make sure we have the accuracy and firepower necessary to take that ship down. It's time to teach that bastard what happens when you mess with Sarge."

The soldiers started to get to work, first charging up the cannon to full power and then getting the lock on systems working. Once they locked on to the target, the cannon started to rise to its location and was charged up and ready to fire. The soldier then turned back to the sergeant and told him about it.

MECH Soldier 19: "Cannon charged up and ready to fire. Target is locked on. Ready to fire under your orders."

The Sarge remained silent for a few good seconds until he spoke up out loud.

Sarge: "Today is a good day to die! Shoot him down!"

With a quick push of the button, the cannon glowed bright at the end and fired a beam of electrical light. The beam followed the Jackhammer and hit it, creating an electrical distortion both outside and inside. The Sarge saw this through his binoculars and was pleased with the result.

Sarge: "Bulls eye!"

In the cockpit, the controls were frying and the flying systems were malfunctioning. Jackie was in panic mode, as he knows that this is the second time someone took a shot at his ship.

Wheeljack: "Blast it! Not this again!"

With his systems no responding he had to make a manual landing on the ground before it started to crash like what he did when the old Autobot base was invaded. After getting to a clearing, he landed hard on the ground and skidded to a complete stop with dirt marks trailing the way. As the smoke cleared, the Jackhammer stood there on the ground and was lifeless. Immediately a group of soldiers, MECHicons, and tanks surround the ship and waited for someone to come out. The E.M.P. cannon then came in back of the ship and lowered to it's position as the sergeant looked on with a smirk underneath his mask.

Sarge: "Pally, you just got EMPed."

One of the soldiers overheard that and groaned to himself.

MECH Soldier 19: "Oh man…"

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the Morrison Dam, a group of soldiers were in the quarter's room, which is being used to keep the hostages at bay. Within the group, one of the soldiers was talking to a female trooper and was a little unsure.

MECH Soldier 20: "So let me get this straight. You are Grif's sister and the reason why you joined MECH is that you don't want to be alone?"

The female soldier nodded and answered kindly.

Sister: "That's right! Since mom left us I was all alone. I was scared for my life. Grif had always been there for me since then but having him leave for MECH, I couldn't stand there and wait for him to return. So I headed to MECH and sign up."

The MECH goon looked at her oddly then turns to Grif for an explanation.

MECH Soldier 20: "Grif, is that true?"

Grif lowered his head and sighed to himself.

Girf: "Unfortunately, yes… I didn't think that she would join MECH until a few days ago. I just cannot believe you did that Sister!"

Sister turned to her brother and argued back.

Sister: "Hey! Why are you so angry of me?! I thought that you would be happy to see me."

Grif: "Happy?! I'm a little pissed off that you're here to begin with! Why are you even here anyways? You don't have any military training at all! You don't have weapons specialty, no tactical planning, no communications experience… Hell, you're even COLOR BLIND!"

The soldier heard that and couldn't believe it.

MECH Soldier 20: "Hold up… She's colorblind? As in she can't see?"

He turned back to the soldier and explained thoroughly.

Grif: "No, she can see. It's just that she can only see in black and white, which makes it difficult and tell whose friend or foe."

Sister: "Hey at least I can still see! Anyways, I told the recruitment center that I was head cheerleader of the Iowa State Cheerleading Squad. I think that qualifies since I'm great with my agility."

The soldier starred at her quizzically and couldn't believe that they allowed someone with that type of experience.

MECH Soldier 20: "Yeah… If you are part of a all feminine dance team that's cheering you on."

Now Grif just had it and decided to punish his sister.

Grif: "All right, that does it. At the end of the day, when this is over, I'm going to have to sent back home. Don't care if I have to drag you there myself!"

She turned to him and started to argue at him.

Sister: "Oh come now bro!"

Before she could argue back, they all heard the sound of gunfire from the other end. They all turned to that end where a locked door was located while the sounds of gunfire continue to get louder. Grif was a little nervous and started to ask a question.

Grif: "Um… Please tell me that Squad 6 is doing their shooting drills."

The soldier looked on and could tell that that sounded really bad.

MECH Soldier 20: "I don't think so… Battle stations people! We got some unwanted company!"

Immediately, the soldiers got into positions and waited for someone to come through that door. As they were waiting, Grif's sister turned to him and asked him about the intruders.

Sister: "So who are these intruders again?"

Grif turned to her and answered her question.

Grif: "Just some test subjects the Director used to create his robots. Now they're on the loose freeing the other captives we got. One of them is heading this way to free the hostages."

Sister: "And what does this intruder look like?"

Grif: "Some expansive sports car with purple and pink flames."

Sister: "Wait, purple and pink? But I only see in black and white!"

Grif: "Just focus on the flames part all right? And whatever you do, don't embarrass the family."

Sister: "Geez, you're so overprotected, you know that?"

The soldier overheard the two and silenced them, as he heard nothing from the other side.

MECH Soldier 20: "Quiet! Do you hear that? No gunshots. What's going on out there?"

Grif: "Maybe they succeeded and destroyed the intruder."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the dent showed on the closed door. Then another. And another. And kept going until a huge bent on the door. Grif was a little nervous as he corrected himself.

Grif: "Or maybe not…"

After one last hit, the doors flew opened and the team ducked down to avoid the huge projectile. Getting up, they saw Kaosu in her battle pose and was ready for some serious action.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right boys, who wants to get wrecked first?!"

The soldier snapped out of the state of shock and ordered the others to attack.

MECH Soldier 20: "Open fire!"

Everyone aimed their weapons and her and opened fire, sending bullets to her.

* * *

In the holding room, both Sari and Sam and waiting and wondering if they will leave. Suddenly, they all heard bullet sounds coming from the other side of the door. Sari got up from the bench and asked about what she heard.

Sari: "Hey, what's that noise?"

Curious as her, Sam approached the door and places his ear on the door to listen in. All he was hearing was gunshots coming from outside followed by some kind of pulse blast on the other end.

Sam Witwicky: "Don't know, but it sounds like some kind of fight going on outside. Cannot tell who's fighting but whoever has that pulse blaster is winning."

The two overheard the firefight as the gunfire grew less and less. Once the fighting was over, they started to hear footsteps towards the door with each thud getting louder then the last. The two slowly backed away and wondered who was on the other end. That was when they heard the feminine voice that sounded both a little Japanese and metallic.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hello? Is anyone in there? Can you hear me?"

The two heard the voice and perked up, knowing that it was someone rescuing them. Sari quickly got off the bench and banged the doors while screaming out loud to get the rescuer's attention.

Sari: "In here! We're in here! Help us!"

Waiting for a response, they heard those loud footsteps getting closer to them and heard the metallic female voice.

Miko/Kaosu: "I hear you! Don't worry; I'll get you out of there! Just steer clear of the doors."

Both Sam and Sari nodded and stepped to the side, away from the doors Miko told them about. As they waited, they strangely heard metal shifting and a low hum until the door was blown open to the inside, causing it to crashing into the back wall. The two looked on and were taken aback as they didn't expect that to happen until the voice called them out again.

Miko/Kaosu: "Okay, door's open! You can come out now!"

The two shook off from the unexpected door bust down and left the holding room. Upon exiting, they were shocked to see a group of masked soldiers lying on the ground in a semi conscious state. But as Sam looked on in disbelief, Sari turned to the rescuer and thanked her for helping them escape.

Sari: "Thanks for the help. I could've sworn that we would've been trapped in there if it wasn't for…"

As she looked at the rescuer, she stopped mid sentence and had eyes wide in pure terror. Standing before her is a huge robot kneeling to them with a feminine shape, a purple and pink flame paint job, and a helmet with two metal pigtails on top and braided wires sticking out at the back bottom end of the helmet. Sam looked at the femme too and was as surprised as Sari as the strange bot waved to them and said one simple word.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hiya!"

Sam stood there and was a hundred percent speechless and Sari did the only thing she could think of. She screamed in the most high-pitched voice imaginable, immediately alerting any soldier that would hear it. Miko place her servos to her audio receptors to drown out the sound as Sam did the same with his hand to his ears. She then looked at the screaming girl and tried to calm her down.

Miko/Kaosu: "Whoa! Easy girl! Calm down! Are you trying to attract attention? Be quiet!"

Sam notices the female robot trying to quite poor Sari screaming her lungs out and could tell that it wasn't helping one bit. Quickly, he removed his hands from his ears and places them on her mouth, drowning out the sound. All Sari got out of was muffle as the boy tried to ease the girl.

Sam Witwicky: "Now Sari, I know that this is a huge shocker for us but you need to calm down. Whoever this thing is, helped us in getting out of that room. If you keep screaming like that then the soldiers that took us in would follow that sound of your screech. So please stay quiet."

Sari stopped muffling as she heard the boy's voice. Taking a deep breath, she calmed down as Sam removed his hands from her mouth.

Sari: "Sorry about that. It's just that I never seen anything like… like… What are you anyways?"

Kaosu got up and placed a servo on her hip, giving out a coy smirk.

Miko/Kaosu: "First of all I'm not a what, I'm a she. And secondly, I'm an Autobot."

The two looked at each other and was a little confused, looking back while Sam responded.

Sam Witwicky: "Auto what?"

Miko shook her head and decided to save the complicated stuff for later.

Miko/Kaosu: "I'll explain everything later. Right now I need to get your guys out of here as soon as I can."

She then activated her comm. in her helmet and contacted Raf.

Miko/Kaosu: "Firewall, this is Kaosu. I got the hostages out and they are all right. What's the progress with the others."

The two overheard the Japanese femmes talk and Sari perked up.

Sari: "You mean they're more of you?"

But Miko ignored the girl as she heard her friend's response.

Raf/Firewall: _"I hear you Kaosu. Great work. I'm still tracking the others, they're just about reaching the team as we speak."_

Miko/Kaosu: "Do they need an assist?"

Raf/Firewall: _"Negative. I'm already assisting them in reaching the team. However I do need you to rendezvous to my position ASAP. Got a couple of MECH goons that are trying to break down the door and it's a matter of time before they could get in here. Get here as quickly as possible!"_

Kaosu nodded as she end her transmission.

Miko/Kaosu: "Copy that Firewall. On the way now."

Turning off her comm., she looked down at the two teens starring at her and wonders what to do with them. She can't leave them to fend for themselves since they don't know where they can go and they don't have anything to defend themselves with. With no other choice, she decided to bring them along for protection. Giving them a smile, she did something the teens didn't see coming. She immediately collapsed and shifted her metal plating, turning into her McLaren MP4 12C sports car with purple and pink flame decals. Both Sari and Sam were in complete and utter disbelief and as they saw a feminine robot turn into a vehicle. Miko then opened the front doors and told the two to get in.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hop in."

Sari's reaction to this was a wide grin and sheer excitement.

Sari: "That's so cool! I get the driver's seat!"

She immediately rushed up to car and sat in the driver's seat. Sam though was a little cautious being that he saw a huge robot turning into a car right before his eyes. Slowly approaching her, he entered the passenger side and buckled up. With the doors closed, Miko put her wheels to reverse and hit on the gas pedal hard, causing it to speed backwards. Before it actually left the corridor, she did a drifting 180 and drove the right way, leaving the holding area and heading straight towards Raf's position.

* * *

As she was able to free the hostages, both Jack and June were reaching the team that was held captive. There was a shooting between them and a couple of MECHicons that were firing back. Rodimus got his shield up to protect himself from the projectiles as he was firing with his blaster servo. Altra then turned both her servos into blasters as well and shoot away while taking cover behind a pillar. It was an even match until both Darby's managed to terminate the small group of bots, both in the heads and in the sparks. Once it was cleared, they removed their weapons and took a breather, walking to a T-Junction with a sign that said Storage 12.

Jack/Rodimus: "Keep moving! We're just about there!"

June looked to her son and hope that he was right.

June/Altra: "I sure hope you're right on that one Jack. Because this is getting a little annoying."

As they approached the junction, Jack stopped his mother and as he took a peek to the right to see the door leading to the lab. But guarding it were a total of three MECHicons and two gun torrents. Knowing that it's going to be a grave situation, he contacted Raf and told him about the situation.

Jack/Rodimus: "Raf, we're at the entrance of the lab but we got some guards protecting it. Think you can help us with that?"

Raf/Firewall: _"One second Jack, need to bypass the torrents systems in that area. When I say so, take them out."_

Jack nodded as he used his free servo to tell June to wait while turning his other servo as a blaster. As the two waited, the torrents started to turn on the mechanized soldiers and fired their drums at them. The group got in a panic and tried to cover themselves as bullets hit them in the armor, but that was a mere distraction as Raf told them to move.

Raf/Firewall: _"Now! Attack while they're distracted!"_

Rodimus nodded as both he and his mother charged in with their blasters drawn and fired on the group of bots.

* * *

In the lab itself, the scientist were busy with the operation as the Autobots remained in waking dream with cables gathering information from them and downloading it into the mainframe. Professor Sumdac looked at the progress bar to see if there was an improvement. So far it reached around the halfway point most of the windows showed that everything was working efficiently. Still, they have a long ways to go as the download kept going. As he was looking at the progress bars, he and the other scientists heard gunshots coming from the outside. All of them turned their heads to see the door heading out and could tell that it's trouble coming to them. One of the scientists's alerted the others and told them to get ready.

MECH Scientist 2: "Damn it! They're already here! Get into position people, we will not let them get near the Autobots!"

Almost immediately, everyone got into their position with their pistols out and waited for the enemies to come. Sumdac got his pistol out but remained where he was a little nervous cause he never used a weapon before in his life. The group of scientists waited to the intruders to come as the sound of the battle felt fainter and fainter. Almost immediately, the outside got quiet and everyone wondered what happened out there. Without warning, a huge sword penetrated the door and began cutting through the boarder. They all draw their pistols at the door and waited for the intruders to come. Once it was cut the whole way through, there was a loud kick coming from the other end and the broken door tilted downward to their end. The scientists back away from the door and it landed hard on the ground with a loud thud and smoke pooled out from it. As the smoke cleared, Jack and June came into their lab with their blasters drawn and ready to attack. But as they entered the lab, they were horrified at what they see. In front of them was Team Prime, all strapped to berths with their optics wide. It's almost like they were in a waking stasis. What's worse is that they all have cables attached to the backs of their helms and are connected to the terminals on one end. It would seem that they were looking for something in their processors. Rodimus was horrified by this type of torture, especially for Arcee who was in much worse of shape.

Jack/Rodimus: "Arcee?"

He was about to reach her until he saw the group of scientists blocking the way. One of the scientists got his pistol out and warned the recruit.

MECH Scientist 2: "That's as far as you can go buddy. One more step and we'll blast your ass!"

The teen mech looked down at the scientist and demanded him to stop whatever they're doing.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let them go this instant!"

But the scientist didn't listen as he aimed his pistol at Jack's head.

MECH Scientist 2: "Not a chance bud. The Director wants to make sure that all data must be in the mainframe completely. Interrupting the download would lead to some serious problems."

Rodimus wasn't buying it as he threatened him again.

Jack/Rodimus: "Don't lie to me! Release them now!"

As this was going on the professor looked on and didn't like where this was going. But looking back to the security screen, he was surprised to see the holding room where his daughter and Sam was at missing as few hostages while the door looked like it was busted through. Why he didn't see that, he has no idea. But if they are freed and rescued, he now has to do something to help the Autobot recruits. Looking at his pistol, he knew what to do. The scientist smirked beneath the mask and told him no.

MECH Scientist 2: "Not going to happen. If you want to rescue your friends, you gotta go through us first!"

Jack was about to do something about that until he saw something he didn't expect. The scientist got shot in the back as electrical pulses spread throughout his body. He fell down on the floor and was shaking violently until he succumbs in an unconscious state. The other scientists looked on and wondered who shot the first scientist, before they came to a conclusion, they each got in the back by the electric shot and lay on the ground in a sleepful state. Both Darby's looked on in shock and wondered how that happened. Looking yonder, they notice another scientist that had no facemask and a stout stomach holding a pistol in his hands. It would seem that he was the one that shot each of the scientists in the back before they could start firing. Looking at the gun, Sumdac dropped it on the floor and got a little shiver from it.

Professor Sumdac: "That is the last time I use a gun."

Jack and June looked at this strange man and calmly approach him, wondering who he is and why he saved them. The teen mech was the first to ask.

Jack/Rodimus: "Who are you and why did you save us?"

The professor looked up to the two and answered straight away.

Professor Sumdac: "My name is Professor Issac Sumdac and I'm in charge with the Director's Project Metamorphosis."

There was a bit of silence between the three as June spoke up.

June/Altra: "Wait a minute. You were the one that turned us into this? Why you no good piece of-"

Rodimus stopped his mother before she could start the blame.

Jack/Rodimus: "Hold up mom. I think he's telling the truth. You're the guy that saved us are ya?"

Sumdac looked up at the young bot and nodded in approval.

Professor Sumdac: "But of course. I was the one that helped your Autobot friends in rescuing you back at the correctional facility in Tennessee. Now it would seem that you need my help as much as they need theirs."

He then pointed to the Autobots still strapped to their births and in a waking dream. Rodimus looked up at the group and quickly approached them.

Jack/Rodimus: "What did the Director do to them?"

Sumdac watched him heading to the berths and explained as much as he could.

Professor Sumdac: "From what I can tell, the Director wanted to know about the Autobot's technology on their planet. His idea would be to extract that information from their processors and download it into MECH's mainframe. Don't know why he wants to do that, being that he already has his robot army at his disposal."

Altra heard that too and was in a state of shock.

June/Altra: "Extracting Intel from them? That doesn't sound good."

Rodimus got to the back of the berths to see the cables connected to their helms. Taking one from Arcee, he knew what needs to be done.

Jack/Rodimus: "Then it's time to pull the plug on the Director's operation!"

With one swift move, he removed the cable connected to her helm and discontinued the download. Electricity spark around her helm as she passed out and remain in stasis. One by one, Jack removed the cable from each member of Team Prime as the downloading windows popped up stating that the each download was disrupted and discontinued. With all of them removed, he headed to the front of the berths and noticed that they were still in stasis. Feeling a little worried, he turned to his mother and asked if they were all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom? Are they…"

June approached the berths and activated her scanner on her arm to scan each of them. After scanning, she looked at the monitor noticed that they were all right.

June/Altra: "Their life signals are still online, spark rates are normal, and energon pressure is in optimal levels. It would seem that the pressure of the extractions put them into deep stasis. Could imagine the torment they went through."

Jack/Rodimus: "How long will they wake up?"

June/Altra: "Hard to tell… Judging by what they been through, I say it would take hours for them to wake up, perhaps even days. But maybe…"

Rodimus looked at her with curiosity as she was coming up with an alternate decision.

Jack/Rodimus: "Maybe what?"

Altra thought this one through and came up with an idea.

June/Altra: "Back in the hospital, we always use defibrillators to help revive a patient's heart. But there were some cases that you add too much power and the patient wakes up from a state of shock. If I can use my defibrillators to charge up, I might be able to wake the others. A huge risk yes, but we have no other option left on the table."

Jack looked at his mother intently and decided that he has no other choice in the matter. Nodding in approval, he looked at his mom and told her to start.

Jack/Rodimus: "Do it…"

With that said, June approached the berths and shifted her servos into her defibrillators. And first bot she decided to use it on is Arcee herself. Placing both pads together and rubbing them, they started to spark and have an electrical current dancing around it. With the defibrillators at full power, she placed them on top of the femme's chassis and screamed out loud the word she always said when reviving patients.

June/Altra: "Clear!"

In seconds, she pressed hard on the chest plate and sent an electrical current into the two-wheeler's body. The pulse itself caused Arcee to wake up with optics opened wide and gasping out for air. She coughed up a bit after getting a shock in her body as the nurse stepped back, really pleased of her work. Rodimus headed to his partner and checked to see if she was all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "Arcee, are you okay?"

The femme took a deep breath trying to regain her composure as she turned to Jack and June and had the look of surprise to a look of anger.

Arcee: "I thought I told you two to remain in the base."

Jack smirked and thought that was a compliment.

Jack/Rodimus: "That's some way to thank us partner. After what you did in saving us from MECH."

Arcee gave him the cold stare and realized that he does have a point. After all, Team Prime did save the kids and June from being turned into guinea pigs. It's obvious that this was a reversal of what they did as the recruits rescued the team. Sighing to herself, she hung her head down and felt a little defeated.

Arcee: "Well, I guess that makes us even for now. So… Can I get a little servo over here?"

She looked at Jack while trying to get herself out of the straps of the berth. Jack could tell that she needed to get out of stretch and wanted to do something about it. But then he turned back to Sumdac and asked if there's a way to get them out of there.

Jack/Rodimus: "Professor?"

Sumdac looked at the controls and found the terminal operating the berths. He turned to the teen bot and told him that he got it.

Professor Sumdac: "The controls for the berth's straps are here. I got this one."

He typed down a couple of keys and selected the berth Arcee was on. In a few quick seconds, the clamps on her arms, legs, and waist and the two walls that were keeping her head leveled were removed and she was free. Slowly she got up to stretch while clinging to her helm as she was in mild pain.

Arcee: "Urgh… And I thought Shockwave's physic patch was painful. This was ten times worse…"

She then started to walk it off as she asked Rodimus if the others are here as well.

Arcee: "Tell me, is Raf and Miko here too?"

Her partner turned to her and answered.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall is in the security station one floor above us keeping watch and giving us an assist if necessary. Kaosu is rescuing the hostages that MECH is keeping captive. Once we rendezvous with Wheeljack, we'll take the Jackhammer and leave the facility."

But Arcee stopped walking with her back turned to her partner and told him that won't do.

Arcee: "No Jack… We have to stop the Director."

Jack did a double take and was surprised at what he heard. Arcee still wants to stop MECH, even after what she and the others have been through. Sure the femme is one tough cookie, but this is too much.

Jack/Rodimus: "Are you kidding me Arcee? You and the others have been through too much for one night. We're here to rescue all of you. Let's head back to base so that Ratchet can check on you and fix you up."

Immediately, Arcee turned to him and told him about what happened.

Arcee: "You just don't get it Jack. Did you not see what the Director just did to us? He was extracting Intel from our processors, Cybertronain Intel!"

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, Sumdac told us about it. But I've managed to remove those cables and they won't gather anymore information about your tech."

Arcee: "Yeah? Well they still have half our technology in their mainframe. Meaning that there's no telling what secrets were revealed. We need to destroy both Project Metamorphosis and the mainframes that contains cybertron's greatest secrets."

Jack/Rodimus: "And why would we need to do that?"

Arcee lowered her head and took a deep breath, not knowing if they will be prepared for this or not.

Arcee: "Because, he will use whatever technology he has to begin his next attack. And you can never guess on where he's going to hit next? Jasper, Nevada."

The two remained silent for a moment until June spoke up.

June/Altra: "Jasper? But the Decepticons have already taken over that town right?"

The two-wheeler looked at the nurse and nodded in response.

Arcee: "That's what we said to the Director before he extracted the information from us. Apparently he wants to have whatever knowledge of Cybertronian technology he has in his possession to perform whatever grand plan he's scheming. Quite possibly try to defeat the cons himself."

Jack/Rodimus: "Wait, you're saying that MECH wants to destroy the Decepticons themselves. Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

The femme turned to him and had a scorn look on her face.

Arcee: "To MECH, it's nowhere close to a good thing. The Director is plotting something big enough to take on the Cons. We need to stop him by destroying both the databanks and the project."

Jack/Rodimus: "But Arcee, you've been through too much as it is. You can't just go back on the field after the nightmare you went through."

Arcee: "But nothing Jack! We need to act now while we still have a chance. If we don't, then who knows what secrets on our planet he will use against us. Understand?"

Jack thought this through and didn't know what to think. The mission was supposed to be going to MECH's facility and rescuing Team Prime from the clutches of the Director. And now after all that trouble, the team still needs to stop him from not only creating more MECHicons, but also using whatever secretive technology he took from them against both bots and cons? It feels more suicidal then before. But looking into the femme's optics, he could tell that she's determined then ever. He had always seen that look on many missions since he was human. Now as an Autobot recruit, it means more to her then ever. Taking a deep sigh, he gave up and turned to his mother to wake the others up.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom, get the rest of Team Prime up. We're going to need all the help we can get."

Altra nodded and proceeded in using her defibrillators to wake the others from a deep stasis. Meanwhile Rodimus activated his comm. channel to tell Raf about this unexpected development.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall, this is Rodimus. We have found Team Prime and they are in one piece."

Raf/Firewall: _"Good to hear Rodimus. I'll find a rendezvous point where we can meet and we can rejoin Wheeljack in escaping."_

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, about that... There's been a change in plans Raf. We're going to assist Autobots in stopping the Director."

* * *

Down at the security station, Raf heard what Jack said and was a little surprised by this unfortunate turn of events."

Raf/Firewall: "What? But Jack, the mission was to rescue them and get them out of here."

Jack/Rodimus: _"Not anymore. I got news of what happened to them. It turns out that the Director was using them to extract information about their technology. They're planning to use whatever MECH has to execute an attack in Jasper."_

Now that got the hacker's attention as his optics were wide in shock.

Raf/Firewall: "Wait? Jasper?! But how..."

Jack/Rodimus: _"No time to explain Firewall. I need you to contact Kaosu and Wheeljack and tell them to meet us at the second lower level so we can destroy Project Metamorphosis and the databanks containing any cybertronian Intel on the third lower level."_

Raf nodded and gains access to the digital map of the entire dam looking for a way to reach them. After going through the floors, he found an access elevator that would take them to all three floors and told the young bot the news.

Raf/Firewall: "Okay, I'll try to reach them. But going back the way you came is a no go. One of the security monitors is showing strong MECH activity within the area. They appear to be waiting for you. Best bet is to use the access lift within the turbines. It's the only elevator that goes down to all three floors. We'll meet there."

Jack/Rodimus: _"That sounds good. The others are recovering now. Meet up with us in the turbines, we can reach the third lower level and stop MECH plans for good."_

Raf nodded and ended to comm. talk with Jack. He then look back at the doorway leading out and noticed that the enemy is almost finished in cutting through. Realizing he had little time left, he turned his comm. back on and contacted Miko.

Raf/Firewall: "Kaosu, MECH soldiers are just about to break through. Where are you?"

Miko/Kaosu: _"I'm almost reaching to your position Firewall. Just hang on for a few minutes and I'll save your aft in no time. What's the status of the others?"_

Raf/Firewall: "Rodimus and Altra have reached Team Prime and they are online. But now we have a new assignment to deal with."

Miko/Kaosu: _"What? What do you mean?"_

Raf/Firewall: "I'll explain everything when you get here. But right now I need some saving!"

Miko/Kaosu: _"Already on it. Does Wheeljack know about this as well?"_

Raf/Firewall: "I'll try to contact him, but his communication signal in the Jackhammer is offline for a moment. Just hope he didn't get destroyed out there."

Miko/Kaosu: _"Don't sweat it Firewall, Jackie is one tough bot. There's no way MECH can take him down that easily."_

* * *

Unfortunate for Miko, she doesn't know that Wheeljack is in a heap of trouble of his own. The E.M.P. cannon shot the Jackhammer from the sky and took it down in a matter of seconds. Now that the ship is down, the enemy can now get a chance at taking him down. Soldiers cam out of heavy armored trucks while others were coming out of the top sunroofs with their rocket launchers at the ready. Tanks then moved in next to the vehicles aiming their cannons at the downed Jackhammer. Followed by MECHicons with their blasters at the ready. The E.M.P. cannon then approached the back of the ship as Sarge stood up and prepared for another shot, but not until he started to make demands.

Sarge: "Listen up tin man. We got your surrounded! You have two choices. Choice 1: You get yourself shot at until you resemble nothing but scrap metal. Or choice 2: You get out of that vessel, get your hands behind your head, and surrender peacefully, and then we'll shoot you. Either way, we win. So what's it going to be? We're waiting..."

There was a bit of silence within the stand off until the door in the back opened up slowly since the ship was on reserve power. Once it opened fully, smoke came out of the place and engulfed the back. Sarge looked on and fined it a little off. So he looked at the two MECHicons between the cannon and told them to move.

Sarge: "Hey, dumb and dumber, investigate."

Both bots nodded and slowly approached the back of the ship, checking to see if the Wrecker was going to surrender. But just as they were halfway there, two energy projectiles came out of the smoked and hit the two square in the chest plate, killing them through their sparks. The others got into battle positions and were now a little on edge. When the smoke cleared, Wheeljack stood there and was completely irate about what happened to his ship. And it's the second time he gets shot down, from a human this time.

Wheeljack: "Normally the Autobots said that I couldn't harm any human. But since you took down my ship, I'll make an exception."

With that said, he sealed off his mouth guard and started to fire more shots at them. They all immediately got down as the MECHicons took cover. They then went into covering fire and tried to take him down while soldiers used their rifles to join in on the fight. Jackie just run out of his ship and avoided all the shots he could, but he didn't fire back. Instead, he rushed up to the nearest MECH bot knocked him out in the faceplate. He quickly grabbed him and used him as a bullet sponge, absorbing all the projectiles while using his free servo to arm up his blaster and fire away. So far, he took down a few more enemy bots through their chest plates. But unfortunately, soldier with a rocket launcher aimed at his target and fired a rocket at them. The rocket did hit, but the Wrecker was left unharmed while the hostage got nothing but burn marks on him. Thinking quick, he grabbed a grenade from his belt, sticked it in the back of the enemy's helm, and pushed him to the armored car. As it got close to them, the grenade exploded from behind and destroyed both the Con wanabe and the armor car while soldiers flew away from the blast. Two MECHicons saw that and decided on taking direct approach. They switched to their daggers and got into their battle posses to fight. Jackie though smirked behind his mouth guard and thought that was intimidating.

Wheeljack: "Is that all you guys got? I've seen drones that have better weapons then that."

He then took out both of his katana swords and charged in, ready for a full on fight.

* * *

As the fight was going on, the Director reached the third lower level and headed to the recovery room to see how Private Jenkins is fairing. From what he heard, Commander Rourke broke protocol and extended the powers levels by 150%. Due to that unexpected development, the private was behaving extremely irrational. Now he has to come and do a little damage control. The last thing the board wants is an out of control robotic solider running loose across the country. He entered the two big doors that lead to the recovery room and saw Rourke and Doc standing there discussing about Jenkins's condition. Reaching the two, he called out the commander's name in a booming voice.

Director: "Commander Rourke! What is the meaning of this?!"

Rourke turned to the head scientist and could tell that he wasn't close to being happy.

Commander Rourke: "Nothing much sir, just giving Jenkins here a little motivation."

He then pointed to Jenkins as the Director looked at him. What he found was shocking as he saw a shadow of what use to be Jenkins, but was bigger and much more aggressive, being chained up to a wall. Church was even more irate and didn't know what to say.

Director: "Is this what you would call motivation? Look what you turn Jenkins into!"

Doc then stepped in and explained what happened to Jenkins thoroughly.

Doc: "Sir, as much as this was a bit unexpected, we didn't want this to happen. We were preparing Jenkins for the final stage of Project Metamorphosis when the Commander stepped in and broke one of our safety protocols. We tried to warn him about that, but he disobeyed orders and boosted the power levels to 150%. The end result was this monstrosity and it cost us a great soldier in Jenkins. It was never any of our intentions to-"

Suddenly the Director turned to him and spat right back.

Director: "Shut up Doc, or you will find yourself demoted to a nurse for the elderly center."

And just like that, Doc stepped back and apologized to the leader.

Doc: "Yes sir, of course sir."

He then turned to back his commander and gave him a good tongue-lashing.

Director: "And you commander, you should've known better then to break one of our rules in creating our perfect soldiers. The consequences would've been dire, if not fatal."

Rourke nodded and explained his reason in breaking protocol.

Commander Rourke: "I understand your concern sir, but you need to understand the purpose of my actions. With your first test subjects invading this facility and rescuing our prisoners, we need to pull all the stops before they get a chance in escaping. We cannot let this go down like what happened to your last facility."

Director: "But the least you could've done is let me in on your plan. Then I would've thought about it before you pulled it off. Now look at what you've done. Jenkins a nothing but a monster of his former self and we have wasted our resources because of it. Now give me a good enough reason why I won't easily replace you.

Before the commander can come up with a really good excuse, the doors opened up and a soldier approached the group and saluted, giving them the bad news.

MECH Soldier 21: "Director! Sir! We have a situation! The test subjects have reached the Autobots and freed them from their confines. They've disconnected and download and prevented us from gathering any if not all of Cybertronian Intel."

The Director turned to the soldiers and was in a more state of shock then before.

Director: "What?

MECH Soldier 21: "And that's not all. The professor's daughter and that kid were freed by the one of the female bots and took them, making an escape. What do we do?"

The Director gave that some thought and was surprised by this unexpected turn of events. The patients he used to test his latest work managed to breach into MECH's defenses and managed to save the team and freed the prisoners. They are tougher then he thought. Something has to be done and fast. He turned to the soldiers and asked about the data they gathered.

Director: "Tell me, is all the information's been downloaded?"

MECH Soldier 21: "Only fifty percent of it before it was discontinued."

Director: "Then there's not much time. Upload all of the Intel into my computer, so I can see what secrets they have. And have all soldiers secure the second lower level between the lab and the turbines room. With the Autobots freed, they will pull out all of the stops to reach Project Metamorphosis and the mainframe that have their secrets."

The soldier nodded and left the recovery room to contact the others. Doc then looked at the Jenkins imprisoned, and asked about him.

Doc: "Sir, what about Jenkins? There has to be some way in fixing this."

The head scientist turned to the imprisoned Jenkins and asked the Commander about it.

Director: "Tell me commander, can Jenkins's still follow orders?"

The commander nodded in approval.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir. Even though his processor is now primitive due to the procedure, but he can still follow orders like an obedient dog."

The Director smirked and found a way to stopping the team.

Director: "Then it settles. Take Jenkins to the training room and let him wait."

Doc slowly turned his head to Church and was a little skeptic about it.

Doc: "Uh, sir... Are you sure that's a wise idea?"

The Director nodded and answered without looking at the medic, giving his reason.

Director: "The Autobots are now freed and joined with the test subjects I've created. If they reach the project by taking the elevator within the turbines, they will destroy what I've been working for, for the cause. But, if we stall them long enough, we can have a chance rescuing what we need for our cause. Now it's the time for the Autobots to feel the wrath of Blackout."

* * *

**Okay, just to let you know, this chapter was a whole lot longer then originally anticipated. But being that I'm getting so many guests reviews telling me to update the chapter already, I have to cut this in half so I can shut everyone up about it. Don't threat, the other half is almost finished and I will be updating it pretty soon. I just hope that I get next two chapter updated before my trip to Spain. Two full weeks could be a long time for me. But, I'll hope for the best. Please Review and no more _'update quick'_ messages!**


	16. Reunion

**Before I start with this chapter, I'm pretty sure most of you already notice as the end of the summary that says _'Edited by FictionFan1024'_. Well let me explain. See FictionFan1024 is a fan of my Transformers stories since the one involving Sari's absence in the third season of TFA. He read this story and really enjoys it. So much so that he asked me a while ago if he could make some edits on my chapters. While this story is good, I do believe it needed a little editing on some occasions. And after checking the edited first chapter he made, I was really impressed by it. So I agree for him to edit the chapters while I post them up. If you want, look back at the first few chapters to see the edited versions. You will notice some significant difference in the wording and sentences. Now on the last chapter, it's a little less, preferably because I had to cut that chapter in half so that I can have all those guest reviews shutting up about updating it. But it's still good. With fifteen to more reviews and 469 hits, it seems that everyone enjoyed it one way or another. I just hope I don't get anymore guest reviewers asking me to update it again. I swear those people have no idea the life I have. Now here's chapter sixteen of TFP Season 3, which was suppose to be the rest of chapter fifteen if it hadn't for the guest reviews nagging me in updating day in and day out. With the team rescued, they all must reunite in order to stop the Director and whatever he's planning. But what they didn't know was that there was a huge blockade that would be in front of them. Will they be able to stop MECH in time? This is going to be good.**

**Chapter Notes**

**I will be adding one action sequence straight from season nine of RvB. If you want to know what is it, the link is ( www . youtube watch?v=rVgxiia_wsA) and you have to skip the time to 2:17. You will see why I chose that scene.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Reunion

_To the Board of Directors of MECH,_

_I just want to let you know that I am working on something important for the future of MECH. I cannot let you know about it yet since it's top secret. All you should know is that I was able attain some information from some close friends of ours. But rest assure that you will know about it when I'm done._

_As for Jenkins, we had a slight problem with him. However, he is fully operational and ready for combat. All I need to do is start him with training and we'll be good to go. I got the perfect to way train him. I will give you video feeds when he's done with training. Let me let you know that with this new class of soldier, no one will ever stand in our way._

_Sincerely,  
The Head of MECH's Science Division  
The Director_

* * *

At the lab underneath the Morrison Dam, the rest of the team was awake from their after shock experience caused by June's defibrillator. They all felt a little groggy and their sparks are still aching from the electric shocks in their spark chambers. Smokescreen was taking a deep breather and was still feeling a little pain in his chest. Jack got to him and checked on him to see if he's all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "You're okay Smoke?"

He groaned and looks at the recruit with a smile.

Smokescreen: "I think so… With the exception of almost suffering from a spark attack, I think I can manage."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee heard that and joined in on the talk.

Bulkhead: "You can say that again Smokescreen. My head feels like someone planted a million grenades in my processor."

Bumblebee: _**(You and me both Bulkhead.)**_

Arcee approached the team and told them to get ready.

Arcee: "Just walk it off team. We still have a mission to complete. We need to destroy both the Director's project and his mainframe and has all the information of our technology he extracted from us. We need to find a way in getting down there."

Rodimus then approached his partner and told her how to get down there.

Jack/Rodimus: "Arcee, I think I know a way in getting down there. I talked to Raf and he said that the only way in getting down there would be to take the main elevator in the turbines section of a dam. Gonna be a long stretch, but it's the only way in getting there since all other possible routes are under high alert.

Arcee turned to him and nodded in approval.

Arcee: "Sounds like a plan. Let's move it!"

The team recovered from the awakening and were about to leave the lab. Just as they were about to leave, Sumdac stepped in and asked to come too.

Professor Sumdac: "Wait! I'm coming too."

The others turned to him and didn't like to drag humans into the war, since they had enough to deal with.

Arcee: "Sorry professor, but this is Autobot business. We cannot bring any innocent civilian into battle."

Jack turned to her and smirked a little.

Jack/Rodimus: "Funny Arcee… I think that's what you and the others said to us back when we first met. Now look at us now! We're now fighting along side you."

The femme lifted her servo up and told him to shut it.

Arcee: "That's a little different Jack. You, Raf, and Miko were just kids. This is an aging old man that is much frailer then your former human selves. We cannot get him involved in our task."

Before she and the others could leave, the professor stepped in and told him his reason why.

Professor Sumdac: "But my daughter is endanger. I promised myself that she wouldn't get dragged into this and now the Director took her in without me knowing it. She's the only family I have left and I want to see if she's all right."

Arcee starred at him intently and was about to say something. But she turned her head away and felt a little solemn. She knows that they need to make sure that any humans don't get harmed from any Decepticons. Now MECH is the exact treat as the cons, if not more, and they have dragged innocent civilians into this war, one being Sumdac's daughter. Thinking that she has no choice, she turned to him and made a decision.

Arcee: "All right, you can tag along. But if there is any danger, you hide in safety. Can't let you get caught in the crossfire."

Issac nodded and responded to her thoughts.

Professor Sumdac: "Understood."

She then looked at the Autobots and told them to get going.

Arcee: "Okay, let's head to the lower levels and end the Director's dream once and for all. Let's hope it would be smooth sailing from here on out."

The group approached the door and were about to leave. Unfortunately for them, four MECHicons approached them and blocked their way.

MECHicon 10: "Nobody move!"

The group starred at them and could tell that it won't be that easy.

Jack/Rodimus: "You had to say that huh partner?"

Arcee: "It's a habit."

When Jack got his visor and mouth guard on, he and the others got into battle position and fired at them with their blasters.

* * *

In the floor above them, a McLaren raced down the hall and was reaching to the security station as fast as it could. In the car, the two hostages were at the front with Sari in the driver seat and Sam at the passenger. They were a little quite since their rescue until Sari spoke up at the car that was Miko.

Sari: "So… You're a robot?"

Miko responded through the radio.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yep."

Sari: "And you're a robot that can transform into a car?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Uh-huh."

Sari let it all sank in and had a huge grin on her face.

Sari: "That's so cool! I mean my dad usually created robots all his life, but nothing like this! I can't wait till he sees you. He will freak!"

Sam overhears this too and remembered about robots that attacked a small town in Nevada. So he starts asking.

Sam Witwicky: "Wait… Are you one of those robots that attacked Jasper a few weeks ago? Why are you helping us escape?"

The Wrecking cadet have a girlish laugh and thought his questions were amusing.

Miko/Kaosu: "Boy, someone didn't get the memo on us now huh? I'm an Autobot, a good guy. The bots that trashed that town were Decepticons, the bad guys."

Sam blinked and gave himself a chance to process all of that.

Sam Witwicky: "Autobots and Decepticons eh? This is a lot to adjust to…"

But Sari was feeling more excited and asked more questions.

Sari: "Are there more of you? And if so where are they now?"

Miko/Kaosu: "You know it! Unfortunately, some of my friends are doing a little rescue mission of their own. But don't worry; you'll meet up with them soon enough. In the mean time though, you will get to see Firewall. A bit of an egghead, but he's really a great friend once you get to know him."

Kaosu turned to the left and headed down the hall, following her way back to the command center. Suddenly, she saw three MECHicons blocking the way and had their blasters pointing at her.

MECHicon 11: "Target sighted! Take her out!"

They quickly opened fire and tried to hit her. Still she was unfazed and sped towards them.

Miko/Kaosu: "Not bad… Let me show you what I'm packing!"

She opened the compartments on the front and showed off her sonic pulse blasters. She then open fire and pushed them away with a wave of sound, colliding them to a wall. Once they were out of commission. She turned to the right and saw more bots blocking her path. She sighed and was getting a little aggravated.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right now. Looks like it's time for some good old music action."

She turned on her satellite radio and looked for a station and went to a metal channel with a song that she dubbed, _'Track 7'_. With the sound of heavy metal blaring through the speakers inside the car, Sari perked up and enjoyed this music.

Sari: "Yes! I love this song!"

She banged her head to the sound of the beat. Sam on the other hand covered his ears and didn't like this type of music. While the music was blaring, Miko opened up the trunk in the back and the two shoulder mounted missiles came out and fired right at the robotic soldiers, blowing up on contact and killing the first two. That was followed by her using her pulse blasters to push the remaining forces out of the way. With them in the clear, she got a path and followed the signs that head to the security terminal.

* * *

Back down one level, the team and the two recruits and fighting their way through MECH's forces, trying to reach the elevator to head on down as quick as they could. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen were in the front, shooting their blasters right at the first few con wanabees. As they were in the clear, a tank came in and fired a shell right at the group. Jack got in front and got his shield up, deflecting the rocket to sending it back to the tank. The tank itself exploded on impact, burning the occupants inside. MECH soldiers then came in and fired their rifles right at the group. Though the bullets won't hurt them, they would only slow them down. Bulkhead knew that was the case and had to make a clearing. Rushing up to them, he got one of his wrecking balls out and used it to slam the burned out tank, letting it fly in the air. The soldiers looked on in shock and immediately flee for their lives as the tank crashed on the ground and took out a few soldiers in the process. The remaining soldiers managed to escape as much as they could as they couldn't take them on by themselves. As the battle was over, Arcee looked back at the end of the hall and told someone to come out.

Arcee: "All right, area's secure. You can come out now."

The moment she said that, Altra came out with Professor Sumdac by her side. He looked up to the nurse and asked about this battle.

Professor Sumdac: "Is it always like this with the Autobots?"

June looked down to him and answered truthfully.

June/Altra: "To be honest, I never get involve in their battles. But after was I saw, yeah I guess it's always like this.

Arcee then looked at the signs at the end of the hall and could tell that they were getting closer to the turbines room.

Arcee: "We're just about there. Everyone remain close."

The team made a mad dash to the end of the hallway and turned left where the turbines are located. But then they encountered a group of MECHicons with their daggers out and ready to strike. Arcee and Rodimus noticed that and got their own weapons armed for battle. The two charged in and fought the MECH bots while the others stood behind to watch the fight. Jack used his sword to cut an arm from a robotic soldier while using his shield to block off a strike from another one. Arcee on the other hand was having her own fun. She used her arm blades to slice and dice her way through while blocking any attempted attack for the enemy. She was fierce after what the Director did to her and her team and was going to show MECH no mercy. Jack looked on while stabbing another MECHicon through the chest and noticed Arcee continued her relentless attacks.

Jack/Rodimus: "Whoa Arcee. You were just recovering from your torture. Shouldn't you be taking it easy?"

Arcee's response was kicking another bot in the face and tackling him to the ground, using her blades to cut his face and saying one word after each strike.

Arcee: "This- is- me- taking- it- EASY!"

That last strike chopped the mechanized soldier's head off and shut him off completely.

* * *

Back up, Raf was looking at the security terminal that showed the Autobots fighting MECH's own robotic soldiers. He was surprised to see Arcee acting this way on MECH's army, but he can't blame her. After what the Director did to her and her team, she has every right release her anger on them. As he was watching, he heard the sound of a loud bang on the door, and it continued to get louder and louder after each and every hit. He quickly turned to the door and armed his taser blaster at the door, while at the same time removing his cables from the keyboards to retract them into his back and wrists, ready to take one what's on the other side. After one more hit, the door burst open and created a plum of smoke on impact. Raf waited to see if the enemy would attack first. Just as the smoke cleared, his optics were wide and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Standing at the doorway, he saw Kaosu with her hammers armed and a sly smirk on her face. Standing behind her were a group of soldiers and two MECHicons that were attacked by the Wrecking cadet.

Miko/Kaosu: "So… What did I miss?"

Firewall took a deep breather and was glad to see her again.

Raf/Firewall: "Sheesh Kaosu, you almost scarred me! For a second there, I thought that those goons were going to snuff me out. Boy it's good to see you again."

He then looked down and noticed two humans next to her, Sari Sumdac and Sam Witwicky. Looking up and down between the three, he asked Miko about them.

Raf/Firewall: "Kaosu? Who are these two?"

The Japanese femme looked down at the two and answered her friend's question.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh… They are the hostages MECH used."

Now Raf got a little upset and tried to reason with her.

Raf/Firewall: "And you brought them here? What were you thinking?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Well what do you want me to do? Leave them alone to fend for themselves? I had no other choice!"

As the two were arguing, Sari and Sam approached the hacker and started to introduce themselves.

Sari: "Hi there!"

Raf looked down to see the two as the girl waved at him.

Sari: "Whoa… Look at you! Pretty small, but pretty cool! I'm Sari."

Raf nudged his shoulder and responded very awkwardly.

Raf/Firewall: "No, don't be. My friend here didn't mean to drag you into this. She was doing what was right."

Sari placed her hands on her hips and had that strange look.

Sari: "I'm not apologizing, it's my actual name. Sari. You know, like an Indian dress. And this here is my best friend, Sam Witwicky."

Sam starred at the young mech and nervously waved to him.

Sam Witwicky: "Um… Hi?"

He looked at the two and then back to Miko to ask a question.

Raf/Firewall: "Tell me you protected them on the way here."

Miko/Kaosu: "Why of course I took care of them. Had them in my vehicle mode and they were unharmed. You really think I would be that careless?"

Firewall raised a metal eyebrow and remembered her being careless many, MANY, times.

Raf/Firewall: "After knowing you, oh yes. Let's argue about this later. Right now we need to meet up with the others in the second lower level. Follow me."

He was about to leave, but Miko stopped them and asked about the former prisoners.

Miko/Kaosu: "And what about these two? We can't leave them here by themselves. We need to take them with us."

The hacker looked back at the group and realized she does have a point. Being that she helped them escape, they need to take them someplace safe. Figuring he had no other choice in the matter, he turned to the Sam and asked his name again.

Raf/Firewall: "Your name is Sam right?"

Sam turned to the hacker and nodded.

Sam Witwicky: "Yeah, that's me."

Getting an answer, Firewall transformed into his Scion XB form and opened the passenger door for him

Raf/Firewall: "Get in."

Sam nodded and hurried to the Scion, but not before he turned to his friend and asked to come along as well.

Sam Witwicky: "Well, are you coming Sari?"

Sari turned back to Miko as she too transformed and offered her a ride. She then turned back and told him that it was all right.

Sari: "Naw, it's cool. You go with him Sam, I'll tag along with her. She and I have a lot in common."

Quickly, she hurried to Miko's passenger side and closed the door. Sam sighed and did the same with Raf. Once the two were in their respective vehicles, the recruits pushed on the gas pedal and sped out of the security terminal, reaching the elevator that goes to the next floor below. As they were leaving Kaosu asked about something.

Miko/Kaosu: "So, what's going on? Why are we heading to the team when we should get them back? Anything I don't know about yet?"

Raf/Firewall: "I'll brief you about it on the way to the lift."

Miko/Kaosu: "Okay… Whatever you say. Did you talk to Wheeljack about this?"

Raf/Firewall: "Been trying to reach him through the comms but still nothing. I just hope he didn't offline himself out there."

Miko chuckled about that and reminded him again.

Miko/Kaosu: "Did you already forgot? Wheeljack's the toughest Wrecker out there. He can handle himself."

The two sped down the hallway as they get closer to their goal.

* * *

Back outside the dam, Wheeljack was handling himself, but in a way the Wrecker handles himself. With his swords poised and ready, he rushed up to one of the MECH bots and pierced him to the sides of his chest. He then got caught off guard by a barrage of bullet fire form a small group of soldiers as the weapons pinged his armor bit by bit. Still it didn't show much of an affect against the Wrecker. Turning left to see a group of human soldiers trying to shoot him down, he used his strength to lift the sword pierced MECHicon in the air and threw him at that direction. The soldiers saw that and quickly scattered, trying to avoid the incoming metallic comrade. With him landing with a loud thud, the humans flew back around him and were unconscious for a few mere seconds. He looked on as his accomplished work and was going to celebrate, but that soon ended as more barrages of human bullets came out of the blue and hit him in the back. He turned and used his swords to block any of the bullets hitting him. Unfortunate for him, a tank slowly approached him and aimed right at him. Once the tank locked on, it fired and sent a shell flying towards him. Jackie heard the shot and turned around to see the explosive shell heading towards him. Quickly he bended back and in slow motion, avoided the shell by a couple of inches. The shell though sailed to the other end and hit the armored truck, exploding it on impact and taking out the soldiers that were shooting at the Autobot. He turned to the tank and could tell this won't be easy as it fired another shell at him. He ducked down from that attack as it misses him, destroying another armored car behind him with a few more enemy casualties. He had to think of a way to get rid of that tank and fast before it can blow him to bits. Just then, a MECHicon came up from behind and was about to stab him in the back. Jackie peeked behind him and saw it coming. With his swords poised and ready, he did a quick turn to take out the threat behind. The first sword cut the arm that was using the dagger servo and the other sword chopped the robot's head off, shutting him down completely. With him down, he grabbed the severed limb and came up with a really good idea. Looking at the tank that was about to fire, the Wrecker wind his arm back and threw the limb right at the tank, letting the servo end stick into the hole of the cannon. At the same time the tank opened fire, only to blow up from the inside with flames spewing outside. Sarge looked at the battle and was in completely disbelief.

Sarge: "Jumping gehosifates! This guy is like the Energizer Bunny, only he keeps going and killing. We got to take him down before he destroys everything. Charge up the EMP cannon! Full power!"

The soldier at the controls looked at him and had a confusing look.

MECH Soldier 28: "But Sarge it's called the E.M-"

The sergeant looked down to him and argued back.

Sarge: "Don't confuse me with your new words! Start charging the cannon now!"

The soldier stared nervously and saluted in response.

MECH Soldier 28: "Yes Sarge…"

He then typed away and began charging the E.M.P. cannon to full power.

* * *

Back inside, Team Prime was getting closer to their destination. They knew they were reaching to the turbines because of the updated security. There were no human soldiers, but there were a group of MECHicons blocking their path along with a tank in the middle and two sentry guns on the ceiling, all of which was firing at the team, trying to take them down. Team Prime though was at the cross junction of the hall, getting cover within the corners and returning fire. Still, it wasn't much as the as the enemy returned fire as a rocket shell headed towards them. They immediately got into cover as the shell passed them and went down the hall to the other end, exploding in the distance. Jack looked back and could tell that this wasn't going to be easy.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well at least we're close to the turbines. Too bad these scrappers won't let us through."

His mother, who was still with the professor throughout the journey since the rescue, nodded as she came up with a joking solution.

June/Altra: "Maybe we can come out and asked them politely to let us through."

Arcee turned to her and smirked from that joke.

Arcee: "Though it might sound like a good idea, I don't think they'll listen. So we have to do what we always do best. Bulkhead!"

Bulk looked towards Cee and nodded in approval.

Bulkhead: "On it!"

He took a grenade out of his metallic belt buckle and armed it. Quickly getting out of cover, he threw the grenade and let it land on the ground near the front of the tank. The grenade rolled to tank and in a matter of seconds exploded before it could fire back. The force of the explosion caused the tank and MECH bots to fly away with the tank landing upside-down on the roof while the sentry guns got hit by a lot of shrapnel, tearing them to shreds. With their path clear, Arcee looked on and told the others to keep pushing.

Arcee: "Our path to open! Move it Team!"

They all got out of cover and made a mad dash to their destination. The MECHicons managed to get up to recover and fight back, but the Autobots didn't give them a chance. With blasters armed, they fired at the enemy group, killing them either by the head or the spark. As they ran, Professor Sumdac was following behind them, catching up as much as he could. Unfortunately, his weight didn't do much for him as he panted.

Professor Sumdac: "Hey! Don't leave me here alone! Wait for me!"

He then ran off to catch up with the others.

* * *

One floor above them, a few MECHicons were keeping guard on the lift that can go down to the turbines and the third lower level. They kept on the look out incase any intruders decided to come and gain access to the lift. One of the robotic soldiers turned to the front to see if any intruders were coming to them. Just as he was looking, an electric pulse coming from the hall shocked him. The others turned to their comrade to see him falling and landing hard on the floor, temporarily in stasis. Before they could do anything, they too got shocked by the pulse blast as they fell down and left in deep stasis as well. With them out like a light, a McLaren and Scion XB drove past them and headed to the doors of the elevator. Once they made a stop, Raf looked on and could tell they were here.

Raf/Firewall: "This is the place. Out of the car."

The passenger doors opened to let Sari and Sam out of the cars. Both Kaosu and Firewall closed their doors and transformed into their bipedal mode. Miko then approached the gated door and wasn't impressed by it.

Miko/Kaosu: "That's the elevator that can take us down? Hmph… Doesn't look like much."

Firewall approached her and explained his reason in choosing it

Raf/Firewall: "It's the only elevator that can take us down two floors, one in which Team Prime is located. Now I already told them on where to meet. They will be waiting for us in the turbines one floor below us. Once we're together, we will head to the third lower level to destroy the Director's project."

Miko looked to him and nodded and approval. Ever since rescuing him in the security station, the hacker told her about the situation and the change of plans. Kaosu didn't like it, but if it means destroying the project to prevent anymore MECHicons from being created, she has no other way out of it. She gave off a deep sigh and told him straight away.

Miko/Kaosu: "Whatever you say Firewall. After what we've seen, I don't want to take on any more of MECH's latest work any time soon."

Raf nodded and headed to the lift to activate it. But as he did, he noticed something off. He noticed a small panel and it had some kind of locking mechanism that can only allow access through an ID or a scan of some kind. He lowered his head and gave a deep sigh.

Raf/Firewall: "Slaggit. I knew this was too easy."

The Wrecking cadet approached him and noticed his worriness.

Miko/Kaosu: "What's wrong Firewall."

Raf/Firewall: "This elevator is locked with a security panel."

Miko/Kaosu: "So crack it open."

Raf/Firewall: "I can't. This panel can only be unlocked by an ID card or some kind of retina or hand print scan. Not even my abilities cannot breach into that panel without alerting the guards."

Miko rolled her optics around and sighed in defeat.

Miko/Kaosu: "Terrific… Now what do we do?"

Sari overheard the two and looked at the panel that's locking them out. That's when she spotted a key slot next to the screen, preferably for maintenance staff. Feeling confident, she rushed to the panel and begins working with it. Sam noticed her heading to the panel and soon followed with curiosity.

Sam Witwicky: "Sari? What are you doing?"

The girl answered her friend without looking.

Sari: "Seeing if I can help out."

Upon approaching the panel, she started to dig into her shirt and took something out. Both Firewall and Kaosu looked at her and wondered what she was up to. That's when they noticed what appears to be a key wrapped around her necklace. It was a key that they never seen before, with a shape of an actual key but had blue highlights wrapped around it and there was a low glow to it, like Jack's Vector Sigma key. As they looked on, Sari removed her necklace and slowly approached the panel that operates the elevator itself. She then lifted her key up to the key slot and waited for something to happen. In seconds, the key glowed brightly and the end shifted into an exact shape as the keyhole itself. Smiling to herself, she inserted the key into the socket and turned it. After a few seconds in waiting, the screen went static until it appeared with a message saying, _'Access Granted'_. The bar door opened slowly and gave the four accesses to the elevator itself. She then removed the key and placed it around her neck, turning to the others and telling them that she got it.

Sari: "There, we're in."

Sam, Raf, and Miko looked at each other and were a little awestruck about it. So the hacker asked about it.

Raf/Firewall: "How did… What were you using?"

Sari looked down at her necklace and showed them what she used.

Sari: "It's my key. My dad gave it to be for my tenth birthday, saying that I'm mature enough to handle it. From what I can understand is that this key can get me access to any room imaginable. Just insert into any keyhole and presto, instant entrance. Been using it to sneak into my dad's labs for years when I want to borrow something and I still haven't gotten into any trouble, yet."

Both recruits looked at each other and were a little confused about it. That's when Miko asked about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Where did that key come from?"

Sari got her key to eye level and wondered about that too.

Sari: "Don't know… Dad told me that it was something he found back when he was young. Something about the key being special. Why?"

The two looked again and couldn't believe Sari doesn't know what that key really looks like. So Raf answered her as much as he could.

Raf/Firewall: "Well Sari, it would seem that the key you're holding could be from Cybertron."

The young teen looked at him quizzically and didn't have a clue what he meant by that.

Sari: "Cyber-wuh?"

Before Firewall could explain about that, laser like projectiles came from behind and attacked them. Both recruits ducked down while the teens covered their heads from the attack. The hacker turned back to see a few more MECHicons heading to their position while shooting their blasters at them.

MECHicon 12: "They've managed to gain access to the main lift! Don't let them escape!"

They continued to fire as the Autobot recruits covered themselves and the human teens as much as they could.

Raf/Firewall: "We'll explain about it later Sari. Right now we need to leave. Everyone into the elevator!"

Quickly, everyone got into the elevator to reach the others. But before Miko got in, she turned to the charging bots and decided to push them back with her pulse blasters. Arming them, she fired another wave of sound at the enemy and threw them back, giving the others time to escape. Once the MECH goons were taken care of, she joined with Raf, Sari, and Sam as the doors closed the moment they got in and the lift descended downward to the second lower level where the rest of Team Prime is located.

* * *

Back outside, Wheeljack was still holding his own as he took on two more MECHicons in a sword and dagger fight. The two bots used their skills to cut him up while he used the swords for a defensive position. Jackie waited for the opening and when he saw it, he rolled over the dagger swings and used his katanas to but their legs between him. They tilted downward like a bunch of trees and as they struggle to get up. Another MECHicon came charging in with a dagger straight to the Wrecker's spark. Jackie managed to sidestep out of the way to avoid the strike and did a knee strike to the bot's sternum, with enough power to immobilize him temporarily. As the fight was going on, the E.M.P. cannon was still charging as the sergeant looked at the battle not far from him. The soldier looked at the power levels and notice that it was completely full.

MECH Soldier 28: "E.M.P. cannon is a full power Sarge. We're ready to fire under your command."

The Sarge smirked behind the mask and liked the news.

Sarge: "Excellent… Target that intruder! EMP him up!"

The soldier sighed at the lame order and went to work.

MECH Soldier 28: "Whatever you say Sarge."

He type in the command and the cannon started to target him. Wheeljack though was easily distracted as he was busy with the MECH bot attacking him. They started to clash swords and daggers together as sparks started to fly. They then backed away as they waited for the opening to strike back. But then Wheeljack heard the sound of a charge. Peeking back, he saw the cannon aiming at him and was prepared to fire. Realizing it, he jumped out of the way as the cannon fired. The E.M.P. blast missed him, but it hit the MECHicon Jackie was fighting was hit directly. Shutting him down completely and putting him in deep stasis. Wheeljack saw that with his own optics and couldn't believe what he just saw.

Wheeljack: "Whoa…"

Sarge just looked at the Wrecker dodging the attack and was a little irate.

Sarge: "Dirty bot… Fire again!"

The soldier pointed the cannon to Jackie and fired another round.

* * *

Back inside, the team just made it to the entrance of the turbines that use the water to create power. But the bad news is that the team encountered the last line of defense. Five more MECHicons, three additional sentry guns on the ceiling, and a large group of MECH soldiers with rifles, torrents, and rocket launchers block the entrance and fired away. The team managed to hide behind a couple of steel crates MECH were transporting while giving out some covering fire. Bumblebee, Altra with Issac Sumdac on her shoulders, and Bulkhead were standing behind a huge freight loader while Rodimus, Arcee, and Smokescreen were taking fire behind multiple stacks of metal crates and barrels. Smoke looked up while taking a few shots and went back down as bullets and rockets sailed past him, turning to Arcee to tell her this was bad.

Smokescreen: "Well at least we know that we're here. To bad they won't let us in that easily. Sure wish I had my Phase Shifter with me right now."

Arcee: "Well we don't. So now our only chance in reaching there is to push through."

Jack got out of hiding to fire back, but more projectiles reached him and he needed to get into hiding as well. He needed to think of a way to get himself and the others into that room, before the MECH enemies start to shoot them down. Looking down, he noticed a crate of flammable barrels on top of a cart that were being transported. Noticing that there were enough barrels to create a huge enough explosion, he smirked beneath his mouth guard and came up with a plan, looking towards Arcee for approval.

Jack/Rodimus: "I got an idea. Crazy, but is just might work."

The femme looked at him and wondered what he's up to. But since there's no other way out of this, she nodded and told her partner to get started.

Arcee: "Do it…"

With that, the recruit, grabbed the cart of barrels, got out of cover, and threw it with his sheer strength. The cart flew in the air with barrels scattering midway through. With his blaster aiming at the flying object, he fired at the barrels before the enemy noticed to fire back. One of the blue projectiles hit one of the barrel, causing it to explode and sending a chain of explosions from the others. Jack immediately got back to cover as the flames hit the crates and freight containers, but not the Autobots. But the flames spread straight to MECH's soldiers and bots that they didn't have time to avoid it. That flames pushed them back and destroyed everything in its path. When the flames were gone and the smoke was cleared, the team got out of cover to see what has happened. What they saw looked like something out of a Blackdraft movie. There were scorch marks on the floor, walls, and ceiling, smoke billowing out of spots, the sentry guns were nearly melted and non-functioning, human soldiers all having 100 degree burns, and the MECHicons were covered in smoldering smoke and soot. The team looked on and couldn't believe that their former human friend could pull something like that off.

Bulkhead: "Whoa… Now that's something Jack."

Bumblebee: _**(Yeah, didn't think you could be that extreme.)**_

But June looked at him and had an angry look on her face.

June/Altra: "Jackson Darby! You will never do that ever again!"

Rodimus turned to his mother and apologized about that.

Jack/Rodimus: "Sorry mom. Guess I got myself a little carried away."

The two-wheeler looked yonder to see the entrance to the turbines clear of any hostile threat and smiled.

Arcee: "Extreme or not, at least we got our way in."

Just as she said that, they all heard a voice from the other end.

MECHicons 13: "I heard an explosion close by. Move, move, move!"

The others turned to other end of the wall and saw shadows coming from the lights. Meaning that they knew that trouble was on the way.

Arcee: "And just in time too. Sounds like reinforcements are coming. Let's get a move on!"

She the others rushed into the turbines area and were reaching for the main elevator. But before Bulkhead would follow, he turned to see the panel on the wall that operates the doors. Confident, he armed his wrecking ball and punched on the panel, destroying it completely. The doors immediately seal the room and were locked up tight. With the doors close, Bulk smirked and liked what he did.

Bulkhead: "That outta hold them off."

He then rejoined with the others as they reach the end of the room. Now the turbines was a big enough room with a total of six generators on each end and a catwalk wrapped around the top and middle of the room and a crane like structure on the ceiling holding some sensitive material. At the other end was the huge lift that can take them down to the third lower level. Looking at the screen, they all noticed that the elevator was moving and heading down to their position.

Smokescreen: "Looks like the elevator is heading down to us. Question is, is it our friends or more MECH goons?"

Arcee: "Don't know, but there's one way to find out."

She armed her blaster and waited for the lift to go down to them. They then heard the elevator stopped to their floor and the doors started to open. The group got prepared and were ready to strike, but when the doors opened, they saw Kaosu and Firewall standing there with the Japanese femme smiling at them.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey guys! Hope I didn't miss out on anything."

The two-wheeler lowered her blaster and gave a deep breath of relief while the others stand down.

Arcee: "Not much Kaosu, just the usual. Taking down the bad guys."

The moment she looked down though, she saw two humans between them, who are Sari and Sam. Looking up, she had a distasteful look on her face.

Arcee: "You drag two humans into battle? Don't you remember what happens when we bring humans into our war?"

Miko sighed to herself and rest assure her that she got that covered.

Miko/Kaosu: "Relax Arcee. We've managed to take care of them. It's not like I would be too reckless with them right?"

Arcee starred at her and has a coy like expression.

Arcee: "Know about your history of recklessness Kaosu. I know how you handle yourself and others around you."

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh go ahead and rub that in my face why don't you. You should've been grateful that I had a big responsibility on my shoulders."

Issac was stilling sitting on June's metallic shoulders as he looked down at see the two humans in that shaft. One in particular was his own daughter, looking safe and sound. He smiled and called out her name.

Professor Sumdac: "Sari?"

Sari looked up at see her father on top of one of the bot's shoulders and smiled in excitement.

Sari: "Dad!"

Altra got her servo up so the professor can jump down and land on top of it. She then bent down to place her servo to the floor just so Issac can get on the ground. When he made it to the ground, he rushed to his daughter as Sari did the same. They both came together and gave each other and warm embracing hug.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh Sari… I was so worried about you. I thought you were a goner."

Sari: "You worried about me? I was more worried about you! I thought I would never see you again."

The moment she let go of the hug, she looked at every Autobot around her and remembered something about what her father was working on. So she looked at him and asked about it.

Sari: "So… This is the new side project you've been working on?"

Issac sighed and tried to explain it to her.

Professor Sumdac: "It's a little more complicated then that Sari. I'll explain everything when we get out of here."

Sari: "But can we keep them?"

June looked down to Sari and had a stern look on her face.

June/Altra: "Do we look like stray animals to you miss?"

As that was going on, Jack and Arcee approached their friend and asked about the situation.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well Firewall, what's the situation."

Raf/Firewall: "As far as reaching down to the next floor, we seem to be in the clear. But here's something that's really strange. I looked at the security cameras for the third lower level and besides the heavy security on both floors, the one below us seems a bit lacking. Almost like there's not much of security guards in that area."

Rodimus turned to his partner and asked about the lack of security.

Jack/Rodimus: "Why would the Director leave the third level unguarded?"

Arcee: "My guess, it has to be a trap. Doesn't matter, we need to reach the Director's project and the databanks at all cost."

Jack/Rodimus: "You sure about this Arcee. I mean if this is a trap, it could mean it's bad, really bad."

Arcee: "I've seen traps on Cybertron Rodimus, went into a couple myself. But we need to reach our target no matter what."

Raf/Firewall: "I got the lift ready to go down. All I need is for you to get on it."

Just as the hacker said that, they heard the sound of a cutter coming from the other end. They all turned to see what appears to be two sparks coming from the other end and was slowly rising up to the top of the lock door. Arcee had a serious look in her as she told Raf to hold it.

Arcee: "The ride will have to wait Firewall. Right now, we got company coming. Get the humans to safety, don't let them get caught in the crossfire."

The hacker nodded as Sam overheard them and gestured to Sari to get back in.

Sam Witwicky: "Sari, you better get back here."

Sari heard her friend and noticed the sealed door that was halfway finished in being cut through. Quickly, both she and her father headed to the lift and got behind Firewall. As they rejoined, Issac looked at the strange teen and asked him.

Professor Sumdac: "I'm sorry, but I think we haven't met. And you are?"

Sam looked at the professor and gave his introduction.

Sam Witwicky: "Sam Witwicky. I'm a friend of Sari. It's nice to meet you professor Sumdac. Though I didn't think I would meet you like this."

Sumdac looked at the boy quizzically and remembered something.

Professor Sumdac: "Oh yes! I remember now. Sari told me about you. You're a nice and smart kid of your age."

Sam Witwicky: "Gee… Thanks… It's really nice that she was talking about me."

Sari looked at the two and was a little confused about this. So she decided to intervene.

Sari: "Uh, dad? Sam? Why are you guys introducing yourselves when there's big robots around us?"

The two soon realized that they were in the middle of a robot brawl and stood behind Raf, watching Arcee and Rodimus rejoining the others and were getting ready for an assault. They got their blasters armed as they pointed to the door that's about to be cut open.

Arcee: "Get ready team. Who knows what's busting through that door."

So they stood their ground and waited for the threat to bust through. The moment the sparks meet, there was a huge hit at the door and the it fell like a domino with smoke pluming out of it and MECH soldiers and MECHicons came spewing out of it. Miko got to the middle fired her pulse blasters to push them away. The others soon joined in and used their blasters to hit the enemies down before they could fire back. In a matter of seconds, all the bots were killed with their spark cavities exposed and the human soldiers were left in an unconscious state. At first, they all thought that it was all over, but then they noticed something coming out of the smoke. When it started to clear, they saw just another human soldier from MECH heading towards them, but this one was much different then the others. He was wearing heavy armor with a target on his center and the title 'Hit Me' over it. He wore a helmet on his head that had like a skull imprint on the front and visor. His hands were then covered with a combination of two weapons, two chain guns and two flamethrowers in the center and strapped to his back is an ammo backpack with two napalm canisters on both ends. He slowly marched towards the entrance and was breathing heavily from all the weight he was carrying. The moment he stopped, he aimed at the team with the drums of the guns rolling and the flames starting to ignite. The team just watched on in an awkward silence until Smokescreen looked at Arcee and asked about this new enemy.

Smokescreen: "What the frag is with this guy?"

The moment he asked that, the soldier fired both weapons at the same time. The flamethrowers were used to help melt any metal while the bullets were used to pierce through any armor easily. Quickly, the team felt the heat and got into cover behind the turbines and other random objects.

Smokescreen: "Whoa! That's hot!"

Arcee, Jack, and Smoke then got out of cover and opened fire on the one soldier. The most of the projectiles hit him, the tough armor he has didn't even faze him. He then turned to the three and fired his flames and bullets at them as they immediately got into cover. Bulkhead and Kaosu were at the right side of the room to see their friends trapped in their spots. They had to do something fast before they get scrapped in kingdom come. So Bulk threw a grenade right at the soldier while Miko fired both her missiles at him. The soldier turned to see that coming and used his weapons to fire at them. The moment the flames hit the projectiles, they exploded midair, making it impossible to hit the enemy. The soldier then turned to the two wreckers and unleashed his fury on them, bringing flames and bullet to them. They managed to get into hiding and tried to figure out another way to stop them. Altra and Bumblebee decided to intervene as well as they got out of hiding fired away. Still, that had proven to be fruitless as well as the soldier blasted them with flames and his own projectiles. The soldier then had it and used his weapons and spread on both ends, preventing any of them to strike back. Smoke actually got an opening to got out of cover.

Smokescreen: "I got a clear shot! I'm going to take it!"

He aimed his blaster at the threat and was about to fire. But unbeknownst to him was that he was hiding behind a huge stack of busted equipment and they started to short circuit. He didn't realize it until he heard the sound of fizzle near him. The second he looked down though, the equipment exploded, hitting him in the side of his waist and sending him flying out in the open. The other Autobots saw that and were shocked by what happened.

Arcee: "Smokescreen!"

The soldier looked right at the down Autobot and decided to take him out. The second he fired his weapons at the Elite Guard member, Jack came in and used his shield to protect his friend. The shield itself absorbed the flames while the heavy bullets deflected it, sending them flying everywhere. He then looked at his mom and told her to help the wounded Autobot.

Jack/Rodimus: "Altra, aid Smokescreen! Get him to the elevator for immediate medical assistance."

June nodded and headed to Smoke's side, picking him up and taking him to the lift. As she was doing this, Rodimus was doing all he can to hold the soldier at bay. But the flames were slowly breaching the shield and he could feel his armor getting seared. Arcee noticed it too and had to do something before her partner gets burned to death. Looking up, she saw the crane on the ceiling holding what appears to materials of some kind with the words flammable on it. Starring at the contents, she got an idea and told Jack to fight the enemy.

Arcee: "Rodimus, keep him distracted! I have a plan in stopping him!"

Rodimus looked to her and wondered what she was up to, but decided to follow her advice anyways.

Jack/Rodimus: "Whatever you say partner."

So she looked up at her target point and left her spot to find a way up. Jack then turned his free hand into his blaster and used cover fire with his shield as the covering point. The soldier turned to his side to the blaster hit his arm before turning back and fire waves of flames and armor piercing rounds at him. The recruit charged up his shield, making it twice as strong to protect himself from the incoming projectiles, but it still wasn't enough as the bullets and flame slowly weakened his only defense. Miko noticed that he needed some help, so she got out of cover as well and armed her sonic blasters to push a wave to sound at the soldier. The enemy didn't see that coming as he pushed away from the entrance. The MECH soldier however kept his foot and slowly walked back to the intruders, using all of his strength one step at a time. Both Bumblebee and Bulkhead then joined in to use their blasters to slow him down even more.

As the fight was going on, Arcee headed to the catwalk above her just so she can reach the crane on the ceiling that's filled with flammable materials. Using both the wall and turbine between the empty space, she jumped off each of them with ease to reach the top of the turbine itself. Then with all of her leg strength, she jumped up high in the air and grabbed the railing of the catwalk. Going over the railing, she transformed midway into her bike mode and sped down the catwalk to reach the crane in time turning left and right to reach the middle. Back down on the ground, the MECH goon slowly walked as the pulse waves were slowing him down along with the blaster fire picking off his armor. But when he looked up, he saw a blue motorcycle racing above and wondered what she was up to. Not wanting to know, he pointed his weapons up and used his chain guns to shoot at the femme. Arcee hurried as fast as her tires can go as bullets rained all around her. She was just seconds to crane when the bullets hit the back wires supporting the walkway. The moment the wires snapped, the catwalk tilted downward in a diagonal level, bringing the two-wheeler down with it. Feeling herself falling on the walkway, she went into maximum overdrive and sped up like a Speedy Gonzalez and jumped off the ramp like catwalk. In the air, she transformed back to her robot mode and grab hold of one of the cable that supports the flammable materials. She then used her free servo to switch into a blaster just to fire at the soldier on ground level. That really got his attention as he used his flamethrowers to burn her up. Seeing that, she quickly jumped to the stop and laid her body on top of the container as the flames nearly torched her winglets. The fire though burned the first two cables in the front and they too snap. They started to snap as the container tilted downward. Arcee managed to jump off the container just to land of the top corners. With sheer balance, she opened up her blades and cut the last two, letting the container fall close to the team. Jumping off and falling in the air, she called out Bulkhead and Kaosu for a little help.

Arcee: "Bulkhead, Kaosu! Gonna need your servos for this one!"

Both Bulk and Miko looked up to see the container falling towards them. Knowing what Arcee wanted them to do, they shift their blasters into their melee weapons and used their combine strength to knock the container when they reached their level, sending it flying to the MECH soldier who looked on curiously on what they were doing. Arcee somersaulted downwards and landed on the floor gracefully feet first, arming her blaster and telling the others to do the same.

Arcee: "Now! Target the container!"

Rodimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee charged their blasters and opened fire on the container with one shot. The soldier looked on and wondered about what they were doing until he noticed the words _'flammable'_ on the container. Now in a state of panic, he tried to run away but his heavy armor made his movements slow. The container then hit the human the same time the blasters hit the container itself, creating a huge enough explosion that pushed back the soldier down the hall and slamming into a wall, knocking him out of consciousness. The group shield the eyes from the blast and looked on to see what they did. What they saw was nothing but a wall of flames around the doorway with the heavy soldier implanted on the wall. Bulkhead looked on until he turned to the others about this person.

Bulkhead: "Man, that guy was a glitch."

Arcee groaned and told the Wrecker to keep moving.

Arcee: "He's more like a waste of time. Come on, the elevator is waiting for us. We should go."

They all turned away from the damage they caused as Jack turned to his partner and talked about the stunt she did.

Jack/Rodimus: "Gotta say, that feat you pulled up there, reaching the container, you were totally showing off."

Arcee peered her optics to him and smirked.

Arcee: "Don't push it Rodimus."

The group entered the elevator as the doors closed and the lift descended downwards, but soon after the sprinkler system activated and doused the room in water. What the team didn't know though is that there was a camera up there, watching their every move.

* * *

In the office, the Director watched the fight and was impressed by the team's resourcefulness. Rubbing his chin, he couldn't help but to stare in completely awe.

Director: "Impressive… The Autobots are proven to be very persistent. Very persistent indeed…"

As he was watching, Rourke came in and gave the Director the bad news.

Commander Rourke: "I'm sorry for interrupting sir, but it appears that the Autobots have breached our last line of defense and are reaching the third lower level."

Church looked up to him and nodded in agreement.

Director: "I'm fully aware of that Commander. Please tell me the data we gathered from our friends have been transferred?"

Rourke nodded and acknowledged.

Commander Rourke: "Yes sir. The Intel we gathered has been transferred into your private servers and your ship is fuelled and ready to leave. But what about the project?"

Director: "What about it?"

The commander did a double take and told him that Metamorphosis could be in danger.

Commander Rourke: "Well we didn't start moving the equipment and don't have the means of transporting it to safety. The Autobots will reach it any moment now."

Church's response was a sly smile and patting the commander's shoulder.

Director: "Don't worry commander; I already got it covered. Rest assure that everything we've worked for will be preserved. As for the Autobots, I think they would be busy with our newest addition to our project. Believe me when I say this, they will be in for quite a surprise."

* * *

Down in the elevator shaft, the lift descended deeper into the facility, slowing getting closer to the third lower level. In that shaft, Team Prime and the humans were waiting to reach that level. While June was checking up on Smokescreen and his injuries, Sari was getting overly excited with what she saw.

Sari: "Wow! That was super cool! You guys were like pew pew pew pew, and then you two did that phwoop, and you jumped up high and go vroom and then jumping on that big box and go swipe swipe and then the two of you did the batter up and then BOOM! That was totally WICKED!"

The others looked at her and couldn't stand the young girl's enthusiasm.

Arcee: "Great… Just what we need, another Miko… Ratchet is so going to love this."

Kaosu turned to the femme and argued with her.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey! I like this girl. She certainly has some good taste in music and likes the adrenaline rush as much as I do. I think she would make a great addition to the team."

The femme rolled her optics around and groaned to herself.

Arcee: "Like I said, another Miko."

She then turned to see both Jack and June tending to Smokescreen's injuries. Worried about the Elite Guard member, she approached the two to get a closer look at the wound. What she saw was a part of the metal plating on the side of his waist opening up, exposing the wires and circuitry as energon was slowly seeping out of the tube. She looked towards the nurse and asked about the situation.

Arcee: "Well Altra, how's Smokescreen?"

June turned to the two-wheeler and answered her truthfully.

June/Altra: "That explosion blew off the plating on the side of his waist and exposing the wires and circuits in the process. He's slowly leaking energon and few of the wires seem to be dislodge from his side. Managed to seal up the leak and got the wires back in, but there's no way I could close the wound. Haven't gotten through with patch ups with Ratchet yet."

Jack listened in and asked his mom if he can fight.

Jack/Rodimus: "Mom, you think Smokescreen can help us?"

She turned to her son and shook her head.

June/Altra: "I really don't know… I mean sure he can fight but not in this condition. With his armor plate missing, he would be completely exposed and would make him an easy target."

Smokescreen, who was awake this whole time, turned to the nurse and laughed it up.

Smokescreen: "Hey, don't get too overprotected of me. I know how to take care of myself in battle. There's nothing to worry about."

Arcee turned to him and told him that's not going to happen.

Arcee: "No can do Smokescreen! You nearly got killed back there! You think you can go out there and fight in the condition that you're in?"

Smoke turned to her and tried to ease her.

Smokescreen: "Relax Arcee; I've been through much worse then this. I think I can take care of myself."

Arcee: "Don't you dare tell me to relax! We're going to take you to Ratchet to have him patch you up. No exceptions!"

She then turned around to see the other Autobots and recruits gathering around to see the Elite Guard's condition along with the humans they've rescued.

Bumblebee: _**(Well Arcee, what's Smokescreen's condition?)**_

The femme turned to the others and told them the bad news.

Arcee: "Not good at all. The blast tore apart his waist area, exposing all the wires and circuitry near his spark chamber. He's going to be out of action until we can take him to Ratchet for a quick fix up. I just hope Wheeljack can use his ship to get us there."

Firewall then stepped in and told her that's not going to happen.

Raf/Firewall: "That would be a problem Arcee. I've been trying to contact Wheeljack in his ship for some time and I couldn't get a response. My guess is that they must've taken down the ship with some weapons of theirs or he's a little too busy with the fight above us."

Arcee placed her servos on her hips and has a slight smirk.

Arcee: "Well if we know Wheeljack, he certainly likes to fight with or without his ship."

Bulkhead sighed to himself and started to show sympathy for the enemy.

Bulkhead: "Oh man, I almost feel sorry for MECH."

The two-wheeler turned to the Wrecker and had an awkward look.

Arcee: "Bulkhead…"

He looked at her and repeated what he said.

Bulkhead: "Almost sorry."

As this was going on, Sari looked at the Elite Guard member and could see part of his inner workings. She just wishes that she would help in any way. Suddenly, her key started to glow lowly underneath her shirt. Looking down, she took the key out of her shirt and noticed that it was glowing. It almost looked like it was trying to communicate to her. Looking at the wounded Smokescreen, she wondered if she could help with his injuries. Curious, she walks towards the Autobot while her father looked on in complete confusion.

Professor Sumdac: "Sari? What are you doing?"

But she didn't listen as she hurried to Team Prime's wounded member. She then brushed past Arcee as she told the team the situation.

Arcee: "Either way, we got one Autobot down. We can't take any more chance in our mission. We need to reach Project Metamorphosis and destroy it, along with all other Intel the Director took from us. Altra, stay with Smokescreen and attend to his injuries. We need to make sure he's all right until we head back to the base so that Ratchet attends to his injuries. Remember, don't get yourselves hurt. After what happened with that human up there, there's no telling what other surprises are in store."

But as she was talking the others notice Sari heading to Smokescreen and climbing up to his waist. It was then that Kaosu told the femme about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Uh… Arcee? I think our new friend is trying to do something stupid."

The two-wheeler stopped what she was doing and turned to see the young teen reaching to Smoke's waist. She then removed the key from her neck and spotted a keyhole opening in the stomach area of Smokescreen. Feeling a bit curious, he placed the key to the socket while the changed to match the hole's distinct shape. She then inserted the key and turned it and it glowed brightly. Arcee saw this and quickly approached the wounded Elite Guard member, picking Sari up while leaving her key in the socket.

Arcee: "What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to hurt our teammate even more? You can't just use a foreign object on him and use it for whatever you were doing. Are you trying to hurt him?"

Sari looked up at the femme's face and noticed that she was pretty much upset. So she tried to get out of it.

Sari: "Please put me down. I was only trying to help."

The two-wheeler looked at her and finds that to be a big strange.

Arcee: "Oh really? And how can putting an ordinary key into our teammate is going to help us?"

Before Sari can come up with a good answer, June saw something that surprised her and told Arcee about it.

June/Altra: "Arcee, you better take the look at this."

The femme sighed and turned to the nurse to see what she was talking about. What she saw completely shocked her. The key that was in the socket glowed brightly as the light spread over the side of the waist. Upon the spread, the wires and circuitry repair themselves and the armor on his side returned. When the glow faded, Smokescreen was back to normal before the blast. The rest of the team looked on and were surprised of what happened. Arcee especially as she dropped Sari to the floor and approached the Elite Guard member, asking him if he was all right.

Arcee: "Smokescreen, are you okay?"

Smoke slowly got up with June by his side assisting him, responding to the femme's worry.

Smokescreen: "I'm fine Arcee. Better then fine actually. I feel like I came out of the assembly line."

She then turned to Altra and asked about his diagnosis.

Arcee: "Altra?"

June got her scanner out and checked to stats of Smokescreen. With the scan completed, she took a look at the screen and was in awe.

June/Altra: "Amazing… The scanner says that Smokescreen is operating on 100% capacity and efficiency. He's fit and ready for combat."

Smokescreen: "See? Want I tell you, I'm perfectly healthy and ready to fight some Cons."

Looking down at the key still latched to his stomach, he took it out and approached Sari, bending down to give it to her.

Smokescreen: "Thanks for the quick pick me up girl. That was some cure."

Sari looked at the young bot and took the key from his digit just to place it around her neck.

Sari: "Um… Thanks, I guess… To tell you the truth, I never thought my key could do that before."

Arcee slowly turned to the young girl and asked about that key.

Arcee: "Where exactly did you get a key like that?"

She turned to the femme and answered truthfully.

Sari: "Uh… It was a birthday gift from my dad."

Issac then approached his daughter and explained it to the two-wheeler.

Professor Sumdac: "She's telling the truth Arcee. I gave that key to her when she was ten. It was suppose to be meant for her maturity, but I never thought that key could do that."

Arcee looked at the key Sari had around her neck and wondered why would a key that small could heal up an Autobot really quick. The only thing that can do that is the All Spark itself, but that was sent away from Cybertron when the Great War started. Could it be possible that this key could have the power as well? It can't be, could it? Just as she started to ask a million more questions, the elevators shook and grinded to a complete halt. The team got startled and wondered what happened. That's when the doors of the lift slowly opened to reveal a huge dark room that was impossible to see. The others looked on confused until Jack spoke up.

Jack/Rodimus: "Arcee? I think we're at the third lower level. Why is it so dark?"

Arcee looked on with concern in her face and wondered why that floor was so dark. Shaking that feeling, she told the others what she see.

Arcee: "It's obviously a trap. Everyone should stay close. Professor, you and the others should stay behind us."

Sumdac nodded as he, Sari, and Sam stood behind the team for protection. The team slowly got out of the elevator and still couldn't see a thing. With their blasters armed, the pointed them in different directions incase that was going to be a surprise attack. Slowly and surely, they checked every corner for an enemy, but with the dark, it was impossible to see.

Arcee: "Slaggit it's dark in here. Can't see a thing."

Bulkhead: "You can say that again Arcee. This place is as dark as the deepest pits of Kaon. At least we have the elevator light to keep us company."

Just as he said that, the doors to the lift closed completely the moment everyone left, leaving the Autobots and humans in the dark. When it got dark, Smokescreen turned to Bulk and asked about that.

Smokescreen: "You were saying Bulk?"

Arcee: "Everyone hold you're ground! Do not panic!"

Raf/Firewall: "Easy for you to say Arcee. I'm scared of the dark!"

Bumblebee: _**(Don't worry Firewall; I got you.)**_

Professor Sumdac: "Sari, do you have my hand?"

Sari: "Yes dad, I have your hand."

June/Altra: "Rodimus, you're with me?"

Jack/Rodimus: "I'm close by Altra. Can hear you, but I can't see you."

Sam Witwicky: "Ow! I think I tripped on something."

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey, can someone turn on some headlights? It's getting hard to see around here."

Before anyone could think about turning on their headlights, they all heard a southern voice from all around them.

Director: _"Oh, but allow me my dear lady."_

Suddenly, the lights within the room turned on at the same time, nearly blinding the team. They all shielded their eyes as they weren't sure if this was part of a trap or not. When they readjusted their optics they were completely surprised at what they see. Standing before them is a small city in what appears to be a huge hanger room. There were buildings that go about ten to fifteen stories tall, cars parked around, mannequins dressed as civilians and soldiers, and facades to store fronts, hotels, and restaurants. The team looked on in bewilderment and didn't know what to say.

Arcee: "What the slag… What is this place?"

The group slowly approached the small city as they looked around still baffled about it. Sari then took a closer look at the mannequin woman dressed as a mother strolling a baby carriage with a baby doll in it.

Sari: "Well, this is strange."

Both Bumblebee and Smokescreen then noticed a couple of military vehicles placed together like a barricade with scorch marks on them, along with some mannequin soldiers placed in a line with a few burn marks of their own.

Smokescreen: "Oh man… This is really sick…"

Bumblebee: _**(Yeah… Was MECH doing some targeting practice around here?)**_

Rodimus then looked up at a few high rise buildings and saw open windows showing targeting boards, almost like soldiers and snipers should be up there.

Jack/Rodimus: "By the looks of it Bumblebee, I say that were preparing for war."

Arcee: "And in a big way too. Look at this."

The others turned to Arcee's direction and wondered what she meant. Slowly approaching her, they noticed the look of fear on her face. Curious, they turned to what they were looking at and were shocked as her. Not far from them is what appears to be wooden cut outs of Team Prime themselves, including Optimus Prime. All of which have bullet and laser holes all over their bodies. The team looked on and were completely horrified with what they saw.

Bulkhead: "Dear Primus… And to think the Cons would hate our fuel tanks. But this… This is too extreme."

Arcee starred on in disbelief and never knew that MECH could be that cold. She shook off to the shock and demanded what's going on around here.

Arcee: "What the frag is all this?!"

It was then that they all heard the voice from before.

Director: _"This is my training facility."_

They all looked up to see where the voice came from. It was then that four huge wide screen TV's were turned on and were in static for a few moments. The second it showed the MECH's logo, the screen went static again and changed into a lone figure in the dark with showing his glasses partly. It was obvious that it was none other then the Director as he explained about the place the Autobots were in.

Director: _"This is where all my soldiers train after recovering from their procedure. I nice model of a small city if I do say so myself. The details are just perfect."_

Kaosu looked at the wooden targets of the Autobots and had a sickening look to her.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah… You certainly got the details down just right…"

Arcee then stepped forward and demanded answers.

Arcee: "Director! I had it with you and your twisted games! Where's Project Metamorphosis? Where's that Intel you took from us?!"

Church slouched back on his chair and could tell that the femme was completely irate.

Director: _"My, aren't we the impatient one. I am sorry to disappoint but the location of my project is classified. As for the Intel you and your friends shared with MECH, it's under good hands."_

Arcee: "Bull slag! I know you have them stash somewhere in this place. Now where are they? Tell us now and I'll spare your life for the authorities."

The Director chuckled and responded to her.

Director: _"Patience my dear lady… Someone like you should watch your anger. But since you are here and in a feisty mood, I think now is a good time to introduce all of you with my latest addition to MECH's cause."_

He then got his arm up and snapped his fingers. Almost instantly, the floor in the middle of the room opened up and something elevated out of it. The team looked down to see what was coming out of it. What they saw is a black MH-53M Pave Low IV helicopter equipped with missiles, machine gun torrents, targeting sensors, and a whole lot of dangerous gadgets. The Autobots looked on and was a little confused.

Smokescreen: "Okay… That is interesting…"

Starring at this chopper, the femme looked up to the Director at the huge TV screen and threatened him again.

Arcee: "Nice try Director, but if you think that a well trained helicopter pilot can stop us, then you got another thing coming."

The head scientist just laughed about that let her in on a little something important.

Director: _"Believe me when I say this my dear, MECH pays no expense and building weapons for our new world order. Besides, who said that I would have a well-trained pilot taking on you and your kind. Private…"_

The moment he said that word, something shocking happened. The helicopter grew as metal shifted and expanded. The wings, tail, and front changed to match variants body parts with weapons attached to the arms and a small propeller appeared on the left of its arm. The huge propeller migrated what appears to be the back as it folded down. The chopper grew bigger and looked more humanoid as the team watched in horror and backed away. As the changes finished, what was a military helicopter was now a MECHicon that's bigger then any bot in the force. The Director smirked in the shadow and started with the introduction.

Director: _"Autobots, allow me to introduce to you Private Jenkins. Codename: Blackout."_

The MECHicon, called Blackout, growled with his green optics glowing bright. He then roared loudly as the foundation shoot and most of the windows broke from the noise. Team Prime stepped back, not knowing what to do with this new enemy as he looked down at them ready to kill. That was when the Director gave Blackout the order.

Director: _"Private Jenkins, time to give you an on hands training experience. Destroy the Autobots…"_

Blackout looked back at the screen the Director is on and snarled lowly. Turning back to the team, he growled at them, armed up his machine gun torrent on his right arm, and aimed it right at them. The team got into their defensive position as Rodimus said something he didn't expect coming from his own mouth.

Jack/Rodimus: "Scrap…"

Arcee overheard that and responded back.

Arcee: "Rodimus, you took the same word right out of my mouth.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER! Sorry about that one folks. It's just that a boss battle like that deserves a chapter of it's own. Now I want to say something before I end it here. I just want to let you know that the next chapter will be a bit longer then the others. The reason why is because I'm going to be leaving for Spain on a family vacation starting August 15th and I won't come back until the 3rd of September, which is actually the day I start fall semester. Don't ask me why, dad has a way in knowing when to go and when to leave. But rest assure that I will keep writing even if I'm away and get all of this together. Just want to give the heads up incase those guest reviewers show up and asking for another quick update. I swear I got to delete those reviews. Thank you for your understanding. Please Review.**


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